❓ Question regarding the feasibility of the Leader of the Opposition's northern water pipeline proposal and its impact on WA's economy. The Treasurer's response avoids a direct answer, instead attacking the Opposition's financial management credibility.
AnsweredQoN 176Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION - WATER PIPELINE PROPOSAL
How feasible is the Leader of the Opposition’s proposal for a water pipeline from the state’s north, and how does this plan reflect on the opposition’s capacity to manage the Western Australian economy? Mr E.S. RIPPER
How feasible is the Leader of the Opposition’s proposal for a water pipeline from the state’s north, and how does this plan reflect on the opposition’s capacity to manage the Western Australian economy? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
In March we had a statement from the opposition. It announced that it had an expenditure review committee. At that stage the opposition claimed that the committee, headed by the shadow Treasurer, the member for Vasse, “would ensure all Liberal Party policies were economically responsible and fit within budget targets”. When the member for Cottesloe announced his proposal for a canal in the election campaign, members of his shadow cabinet received text messages simultaneously to tell them of this new policy. I do not think the Leader of the Opposition told his shadow cabinet colleagues about this policy until after the announcement. I want to say to the member for Vasse - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: In March we had a statement from the opposition. It announced that it had an expenditure review committee. At that stage the opposition claimed that the committee, headed by the shadow Treasurer, the member for Vasse, “would ensure all Liberal Party policies were economically responsible and fit within budget targets”. When the member for Cottesloe announced his proposal for a canal in the election campaign, members of his shadow cabinet received text messages simultaneously to tell them of this new policy. I do not think the Leader of the Opposition told his shadow cabinet colleagues about this policy until after the announcement. I want to say to the member for Vasse - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
In March we had a statement from the opposition. It announced that it had an expenditure review committee. At that stage the opposition claimed that the committee, headed by the shadow Treasurer, the member for Vasse, “would ensure all Liberal Party policies were economically responsible and fit within budget targets”. When the member for Cottesloe announced his proposal for a canal in the election campaign, members of his shadow cabinet received text messages simultaneously to tell them of this new policy. I do not think the Leader of the Opposition told his shadow cabinet colleagues about this policy until after the announcement. I want to say to the member for Vasse - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: In March we had a statement from the opposition. It announced that it had an expenditure review committee. At that stage the opposition claimed that the committee, headed by the shadow Treasurer, the member for Vasse, “would ensure all Liberal Party policies were economically responsible and fit within budget targets”. When the member for Cottesloe announced his proposal for a canal in the election campaign, members of his shadow cabinet received text messages simultaneously to tell them of this new policy. I do not think the Leader of the Opposition told his shadow cabinet colleagues about this policy until after the announcement. I want to say to the member for Vasse - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
In March we had a statement from the opposition. It announced that it had an expenditure review committee. At that stage the opposition claimed that the committee, headed by the shadow Treasurer, the member for Vasse, “would ensure all Liberal Party policies were economically responsible and fit within budget targets”. When the member for Cottesloe announced his proposal for a canal in the election campaign, members of his shadow cabinet received text messages simultaneously to tell them of this new policy. I do not think the Leader of the Opposition told his shadow cabinet colleagues about this policy until after the announcement. I want to say to the member for Vasse - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the first time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : The member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Ms S.E. Walker interjected. The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I call the member for Nedlands to order for the second time. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I say to the member for Nedlands - Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Ms S.E. Walker : No. Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : She does not want to talk about the shadow cabinet. I will ask the member for Vasse: did the Leader of the Opposition put his policy for bringing water from the north through the Liberal Party’s expenditure review committee? Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr T. Buswell : I will tell you what he did yesterday. We had a long look at how you forecast tax in this state and how you forecast household fees and charges because we know that you lied. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I think the Minister for Housing and Works is a very accurate judge. Withdrawal of Remark The SPEAKER : I am sure the member for Vasse did not mean what he said. I direct that he withdraw that comment. Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr T. Buswell : I withdraw. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr E.S. RIPPER : The answer is clear. Whatever the member for Vasse says, members of this house and anybody watching these proceedings know why he is blustering. The Leader of the Opposition did not tell him about the plan to bring water from the north. So much for the opposition’s vaunted new financial management credentials! It announced a policy that would cost $11.9 billion and it did not even take it to its own self-proclaimed expenditure review committee. Let us look at what such a foolhardy policy would do to water costs. We have had some comment from the member for Vasse and the Leader of the Opposition on water prices. If that pipeline project were to go ahead at a cost of $11.9 billion, the cost of water, according to the Appleyard committee, would be a least $5.10 a kilolitre. That would put up the average water bill by 250 per cent. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I call to order the member for Roe and the Leader of the Opposition. Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : If this proposal went ahead, the average water bill would be $1 060 because $5.10 a kilolitre is more than three times the cost of providing water under present arrangements. Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Dr K.D. Hames interjected. The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
The SPEAKER : I do not know whether there is a relay system, but I call the member for Dawesville to order. Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
Mr E.S. RIPPER : I do not mind how many people the opposition lines up to interject on me, Mr Speaker; it only adds to my enjoyment of question time. I want to protect the people of Western Australia from the nightmarish water bills that they would face if the Leader of the Opposition’s policy came to pass. He calls it visionary. Even today he interjected with the word “vision”. I say that it would be a nightmare when the water bills arrive through the letterbox. What we have today is pretty clear: we have a Leader of the Opposition whose leadership is failing. It is terminal; he is going nowhere, and he is unelectable. We see the desperate act of a failing leader. When they are in doubt or in trouble, leaders of the Liberal Party want to bring water from the north. That is what the member for Cottesloe did in the previous election campaign, and the member for Warren-Blackwood, the failing and desperate Leader of the Opposition, has once again resorted to so-called vision, the result of which will be impractical and a nightmare when the bills come in.
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