❓ The Minister addresses salinity as a top environmental priority, detailing government spending and initiatives. The response critiques the opposition's salinity policy launch, highlighting perceived disunity and flaws.
AnsweredQoN 456Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
To what extent does the Government regard salinity as a priority, and how does this compare with the coalition’s salinity policy? Dr J.M. EDWARDS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for that question. It really refers to the number one environmental issue in this State. Certainly the Government takes that seriously. We have recently worked out that we spend about $240 million a year on natural resource management in this State. In the last budget, we also set aside $158 million for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Quite a lot of projects, such as our engineering evaluation initiative and our catchment demonstration initiative, are being rolled out. I was very pleased about 10 days ago to join the new Australian environment minister at the Perth Zoo and make further announcements. I have been pleased to hear from the member for Merredin - he takes this issue seriously - and I was pleased to see that the Opposition has released a policy on salinity. Presumably, the Leader of the Opposition stands by his policy; he thinks it is a good policy. He is saying nothing. That is the level of interest in salinity. It is a very interesting policy. It has a good banner at the top, “Defining The Difference”. It certainly defines the difference, but perhaps not the difference the Opposition was hoping to define. Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for that question. It really refers to the number one environmental issue in this State. Certainly the Government takes that seriously. We have recently worked out that we spend about $240 million a year on natural resource management in this State. In the last budget, we also set aside $158 million for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Quite a lot of projects, such as our engineering evaluation initiative and our catchment demonstration initiative, are being rolled out. I was very pleased about 10 days ago to join the new Australian environment minister at the Perth Zoo and make further announcements. I have been pleased to hear from the member for Merredin - he takes this issue seriously - and I was pleased to see that the Opposition has released a policy on salinity. Presumably, the Leader of the Opposition stands by his policy; he thinks it is a good policy. He is saying nothing. That is the level of interest in salinity. It is a very interesting policy. It has a good banner at the top, “Defining The Difference”. It certainly defines the difference, but perhaps not the difference the Opposition was hoping to define. Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
I thank the member for that question. It really refers to the number one environmental issue in this State. Certainly the Government takes that seriously. We have recently worked out that we spend about $240 million a year on natural resource management in this State. In the last budget, we also set aside $158 million for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Quite a lot of projects, such as our engineering evaluation initiative and our catchment demonstration initiative, are being rolled out. I was very pleased about 10 days ago to join the new Australian environment minister at the Perth Zoo and make further announcements. I have been pleased to hear from the member for Merredin - he takes this issue seriously - and I was pleased to see that the Opposition has released a policy on salinity. Presumably, the Leader of the Opposition stands by his policy; he thinks it is a good policy. He is saying nothing. That is the level of interest in salinity. It is a very interesting policy. It has a good banner at the top, “Defining The Difference”. It certainly defines the difference, but perhaps not the difference the Opposition was hoping to define. Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for that question. It really refers to the number one environmental issue in this State. Certainly the Government takes that seriously. We have recently worked out that we spend about $240 million a year on natural resource management in this State. In the last budget, we also set aside $158 million for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Quite a lot of projects, such as our engineering evaluation initiative and our catchment demonstration initiative, are being rolled out. I was very pleased about 10 days ago to join the new Australian environment minister at the Perth Zoo and make further announcements. I have been pleased to hear from the member for Merredin - he takes this issue seriously - and I was pleased to see that the Opposition has released a policy on salinity. Presumably, the Leader of the Opposition stands by his policy; he thinks it is a good policy. He is saying nothing. That is the level of interest in salinity. It is a very interesting policy. It has a good banner at the top, “Defining The Difference”. It certainly defines the difference, but perhaps not the difference the Opposition was hoping to define. Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
I thank the member for that question. It really refers to the number one environmental issue in this State. Certainly the Government takes that seriously. We have recently worked out that we spend about $240 million a year on natural resource management in this State. In the last budget, we also set aside $158 million for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Quite a lot of projects, such as our engineering evaluation initiative and our catchment demonstration initiative, are being rolled out. I was very pleased about 10 days ago to join the new Australian environment minister at the Perth Zoo and make further announcements. I have been pleased to hear from the member for Merredin - he takes this issue seriously - and I was pleased to see that the Opposition has released a policy on salinity. Presumably, the Leader of the Opposition stands by his policy; he thinks it is a good policy. He is saying nothing. That is the level of interest in salinity. It is a very interesting policy. It has a good banner at the top, “Defining The Difference”. It certainly defines the difference, but perhaps not the difference the Opposition was hoping to define. Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Let us talk about the launch. The Leader of the Opposition put all his boys on the bus and went to the wheatbelt for the launch. They went there and launched their policy “Defining The Difference”. They spoke about drainage. Drainage is an excellent thing. We totally support drainage. A lot of work is going on with drainage. The Leader of the Opposition said - or perhaps it is the Leader of the Liberal Party - that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart. The member for Merredin knows that it is the Avon River. How did it go down when the Leader of the Opposition said that there would be drainage in the Yilgarn and the Lockhart region? As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
As with any good policy launch, they also had the photo opportunity. There was a deep drain, with the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Greenough, Wilson Tuckey and the member for Warren-Blackwood. They were all there with a woman whose name was familiar, a Ms Burges. I wondered why that name was familiar. Who is she? She is well known to the member for Merredin. She was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate who ran against the shadow Minister for the Environment. There is this happy new coalition that has this happy arrangement, this union and the sharing of power. However, the Liberals went out, leaving behind the Nationals and their environmental spokesperson, and had a photo opportunity with the unsuccessful Liberal candidate. Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Mr B.J. Grylls: I was in Morawa for the launch. I speak to Jo Burges every day because she is a great champion of the wheatbelt. I do not know what your point is. Talk about how long it took to get the national action plan - Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS: All of this is terribly interesting. Normally a coalition is about two independent parties coming together and having an agreement. However, let us look at the response from the Leader of the National Party after this policy came out. What was his response? Courtesy of The Avon Valley Advocate , he is reported as saying - “They know nothing about salinity,” . . . This is a really fine policy; this is great unity. The Nationals were not on the bus. Maybe the bus did not have a trailer for the National Party. They were not on the bus, they were not at the launch, and the Liberal Party is flirting with failed candidates to have the photo opportunity. Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
Let us look at the member for Merredin’s comments. His comment was, as reported in the newspaper - “But there will be no saline groundwater going into the Avon. The Government is serious about salinity. We are united in our policies. We believe this is a serious issue. We will get on with it and not squabble about it.
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