❓ Mr. Rundle questions the Premier about a significant drop in stakeholder confidence regarding the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's water management. The Premier defends the Minister for Water and highlights the government's past and present investments in desalination.
AnsweredQoN 577Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Department of Water and
Environmental Regulation Annual Report 24–25577.Mr Peter Rundleto
thePremier:I refer to the Department of Water and Environmental
Regulation's 2024–25 annual report, which shows that theproportion
of stakeholders who perceive the department to be effectively managing the
state's water as a resource for sustainable, productive use has plummeted from
63% in 2023–24 to 38%.Is the Premier
confident in the Minister for Water's ability to continue to oversee the
management of Western Australia's water resources?
Environmental Regulation Annual Report 24–25577.Mr Peter Rundleto
thePremier:I refer to the Department of Water and Environmental
Regulation's 2024–25 annual report, which shows that theproportion
of stakeholders who perceive the department to be effectively managing the
state's water as a resource for sustainable, productive use has plummeted from
63% in 2023–24 to 38%.Is the Premier
confident in the Minister for Water's ability to continue to oversee the
management of Western Australia's water resources?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
23 October 2025
Response time
0 days
Mr Roger Cook replied:As all members know,
the climate is drying. We on this side of the place have known that
significantly longer than the opposition. It had a period of time in which it
denied these things. It is a point of fact that the globe is drying, and that
is placing a lot of our water resources under pressure. Now is when we have to
significantly focus on the way that we manage our water resources, and I have never
been more confident in a minister who is capable of taking on that important
task.Mr Shane Love:Nobody else is confident in him!The Speaker:Leader of the Nationals WA, this is your
party's question. Let the Premier respond.Mr Roger Cook:We are absolutely focused on making
sure that we bring to the table solutions for how we continue to safeguard our
water resources. It is something that we have had some practice in. It is the
reason we introduced desalination into Western Australia's landscape in the
early 2000s. That process was strenuously denied and opposed by those on the
other side. In fact, at that time at the Institute of Public Affairs think tank
there was a chap called Mike Nahan who said that it would never work and that it
was a ridiculous proposition. Of course, now we see not only the desalination plant
at Kwinana but also the upgrades to the Binningup plant. We also have the
Alkimos plant in advanced construction at the moment.The people of WA can
have confidence that—even though we are living with a drying climate,
even though our water resources continue to be stretched and even though we
have such strong economic growth at this period of time and water will continue
to be a key input for a lot of industrial processes—they can trust the
WA Labor government to do what it has always done, which is look after the
needs of our water resources.Mr Shane Loveinterjected.Mr Roger Cook:It will continue to look after the
needs of the water resources of this state.
Department of Water and
Environmental Regulation Annual Report 24–25
the climate is drying. We on this side of the place have known that
significantly longer than the opposition. It had a period of time in which it
denied these things. It is a point of fact that the globe is drying, and that
is placing a lot of our water resources under pressure. Now is when we have to
significantly focus on the way that we manage our water resources, and I have never
been more confident in a minister who is capable of taking on that important
task.Mr Shane Love:Nobody else is confident in him!The Speaker:Leader of the Nationals WA, this is your
party's question. Let the Premier respond.Mr Roger Cook:We are absolutely focused on making
sure that we bring to the table solutions for how we continue to safeguard our
water resources. It is something that we have had some practice in. It is the
reason we introduced desalination into Western Australia's landscape in the
early 2000s. That process was strenuously denied and opposed by those on the
other side. In fact, at that time at the Institute of Public Affairs think tank
there was a chap called Mike Nahan who said that it would never work and that it
was a ridiculous proposition. Of course, now we see not only the desalination plant
at Kwinana but also the upgrades to the Binningup plant. We also have the
Alkimos plant in advanced construction at the moment.The people of WA can
have confidence that—even though we are living with a drying climate,
even though our water resources continue to be stretched and even though we
have such strong economic growth at this period of time and water will continue
to be a key input for a lot of industrial processes—they can trust the
WA Labor government to do what it has always done, which is look after the
needs of our water resources.Mr Shane Loveinterjected.Mr Roger Cook:It will continue to look after the
needs of the water resources of this state.
Department of Water and
Environmental Regulation Annual Report 24–25
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