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Member for Flinders Liz
Penfold said the Labor government has just performed an unbelievable
backflip today in parliament by revealing that potable water may never be
provided by the BHP desalination plant at Port Bonython.
She said the revelation
also scuttles the premise that the plant was to take Spencer Gulf cities
and Eyre Peninsula off the River Murray.
The government has been
pushing a deal with BHP Billiton to set up a desalination plant at Port
Bonython to supply an expanded Roxby Downs and to reduce the amount of
water being taken from the Murray.
Mrs Penfold said $48.6
million was spent (despite advice to the contrary) to build a pipeline
from Iron Knob to Kimba to provide water initially from the River Murray
until this mythical desalination plant was built.
“This wasted pipeline
funding could have been used to double the amount of River water licences
recently bought back by the government for $50 million.
“The bungling inaction
points to the government’s inability to do anything positive about the
River Murray water crisis and the plight of the towns and families that
depend on it,” she said.
“Meanwhile, Lloyd
Energy’s proposed privately-funded solar powered desalination plant at
Ceduna that would have provided all the water needed by Eyre Peninsula was
not facilitated and the company has gone to Queensland,” she said.
“The government is now
talking about a secondary process to produce potable water in conjunction
with a BHP plant.
“Once again this
government is squandering taxpayers funds while the whole state waits for
relief from the drought,” she said. ENDS
Contact: Liz Penfold 0428
830 722
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