Water infrastructure

Mr Peter Rundle (Roe) (4:00 pm): I move: That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for its ongoing failure to manage Western Australia's water infrastructure, service and supply, resulting in widespread system decline, resource mismanagement and lost opportunities for growth and development across the state. I will be raising today quite a few issues that I would like to highlight concerning the status of the Water Corporation and the many issues, which are growing in number, with both the Premier and the minister saying, as usual, "Nothing to see here; everything is going well." The fact that so much emphasis is being placed on the need for numerous desalination plants without any consideration for catchments for already built dam infrastructure and pipelines seems shortsighted. I am keen to hear from the minister whether there is any consideration for other new dams and catchments around the state. What we are seeing now for our taxpayers is a scenario whereby wherever there is a problem, the government thinks: let us just whack in a desalination plant. It is quite concerning because we are going to have energy issues in the next few years. We know that this government is going to cut coal production while relying on renewable energy. When I see the massive amount of power that these desalination plants take up, I worry about whether this government has actually accounted for it and I wonder what it will do in the world of gas-fired power stations. Will it rely solely on its renewable strategy? Last year the Flat Rocks wind farm, not far from my farm, was the only wind turbine project in Australia that was delivered and is now working. If this government thinks that it can whack up desalination plants one after another all over the state and there will be renewable energy to power them, it has another thing coming. I will be interested to hear the minister's comments about the government's long-term strategy. We know that the $3 billion Alkimos desalination plant will be coming onstream and we have heard the likes of the member for Butler and others talking about it. Minister, I look forward to one day perhaps having a tour of what is going on at the Alkimos desalination plant and seeing how it is progressing. The first thing I will bring up is the Water Corporation's Annual Report 2025, which was delivered late, of course, along with several other annual reports. The Deputy Premier got up the other week and gave us a long list of annual reports that have not been delivered. My concern is the lack of transparency. Under the one-year targets, for example, the target for "Driving value for money and customer satisfaction across all regions and segments" was 62% and the actual was 57%. The target for "Building trust among the communities we serve" was 71% and the actual was 67%. The target for "Accelerating to net zero for scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions", which is CO2 kilotons, was 557 and the actual was 578. It has low customer satisfaction levels, low trust levels and carbon emissions are trending upwards. As the minister knows, in budget estimates I asked a question about Flat Rocks wind farm stage 2. Flat Rocks wind farm stage 1, which is quite a controversial project, is just down the road from my farm, and is now up and running. Then the Water Corporation at one point had $180 million in its budget to come into the swing with Flat Rock stage 2. That seemed to disappear out of the budget. The annual report's balance sheet shows $24 million each for 2024 and 2025. I would be curious about any comment from the minister about how the Water Corporation fits in in relation to Flat Rocks wind farm stage 2. The challenges that we see in Flat Rock stage 2 are once again transmission lines, which will potentially go across a lot of valuable farmland to the North Kojonup Western Power substation. The community is very worried about that. I am interested in how Water Corp is involved. Does it have any concerns about good farmland being used up by transmission lines or is it just basically letting the proponents do their thing—hands off? This is a concern in the neighbourhood for sure. From my perspective, this is a farmland worry, a community worry and a worry about $180 million, which was originally in the state budget. The other part is the dividends table summary. The community of Western Australia is asking questions about the dividend strategy of the Water Corporation. Firstly, the dividends forecast for the 2024–25 budget is $842.5 million. The actual dividends paid for 2024–25 were nil. Considering the forecasts over the forward estimates, it would be safe to say that these are tenuous predictions. Under "Dividends", the Annual Report 2025 states: On 10 June 2025, the Minister informed Water Corporation that the Government had decided, on 12 May 2025, Water Corporation would retain the 2024–25 dividends as after-tax retained earnings. Under "Dividends", the Annual Report 2024 states: On 21 December 2023, the Minister advised the Corporation of the Cabinet endorsed Expenditure Review Committee … decision that all dividends to be paid in the 2023–24 year (being the final dividend for 2022–23 year and the interim dividend for 2023–24 year) be retained by the Corporation to be held as cash. This additional cash cannot be used to reduce borrowings in the short term. The total estimated value of the dividend that would have otherwise been paid is $755.5 million … The Corporation has now retained dividends totalling $2.855 million dating back to 2020–21. No doubt the funds will be used for the Alkimos seawater desalination plant and other government-directed projects. From my perspective, there is a lack of transparency as a result of the chopping and changing of the treatment of dividends. From what I can make of it, the Water Corporation seems to come up with an average of around $600 million a year that generally should be paid back to government revenue. The question is: How do we know from one year to the next how those dividends will be treated? The other question is: Should the Water Corporation be making $600 million, $700 million or $800 million a year out of its customers? We are in a cost-of-living crisis but we have a scenario in which we are not sure whether dividends that come onstream every year are going to be paid or retained. If the minister could provide some clarity in relation to that, it would be much appreciated. There is absolutely no consistency by this government or the Expenditure Review Committee on how those dividends are being dealt with. I now move on to sewage spills. A question was asked today in question time. The only mention in the Water Corporation's annual report of the spill in Spearwood and Beaconsfield is headed "June 2025—Sewer main burst in Spearwood and Beaconsfield" and states: A major sewer main burst along Hamilton Road in Spearwood and Caesar Street in Beaconsfield led to wastewater overflows affecting public parks and residential areas. Crews worked swiftly and safely to repair the damage, disinfect impacted areas, and coordinate restoration with local governments. A customer support caravan was also deployed on site to assist impacted residents. Talking about impacted residents, we know that the Water Corporation diverted the sewage from that spill and that it came out on Gold Street. I referred to that today with the picture that I have here. Several centimetres of sewage flowed into that residence. I must say that the way in which that resident has been dealt with has been quite disappointing. As we know, he has had to move out of that home. As far as I am concerned, the attitude has not been good enough. The attitude has been, "There's nothing to see here. We'll handball responsibility back to him to deal with it through his insurance company. We'll give a couple of ex gratia payments, which add up to $533.11, from the last two water bills, and we'll offer to pay a couple of hundred dollars in excess, but that's it. It's over to you now. That's your problem. You've got a 130-year-old heritage-listed cottage in Fremantle that we filled up with several centimetres of sewage, and that is your problem now to deal with." I have a couple of quotes from the resident. He said: Sewage flowed into my house, submerging all the floors with several inches of sewage. It continued to flow for three further days, then slowly drained into the under-floor space, where it remains. The Water Corporation responded by cleaning the external brick paving, after the sewage stopped flowing. I then received an email from the Corporation around 7 July, advising their incident response closed. My house remains coated with dry sewage, and I am living elsewhere. The damage is extensive. The Water Corporation has refused to pay for the damage, insisting I pursue my insurers (RAC WA). The Water Corporation and Minister for Water have focussed on the burst sewer pipe in Spearwood in their public comments. The Water Minister (in a response to a question from Peter Rundle on the matter) asserted "How you respond to that is the important part, and [Water Corporation] has responded very well." Well, I beg to differ. The burst pipe happened, but it was how it was dealt with that was the important part. The minister said today that the government cannot really deal with it anymore because it has been referred to the Ombudsman. People only go to the Ombudsman when they are not getting satisfaction. As far as I am concerned, it is not good enough. The local member also responded by saying that unless the claim to the Ombudsman was withdrawn, they would not deal with it either. I do not think that is satisfactory. Imagine being a resident who was just sitting there one day and then this happened all of a sudden. I have been to the property, minister. The resident was just sitting near the green lid outside the back door and the next thing he knew his house was full of sewage. Further to the minister's response to me in question time, the Water Corporation has come back and said that it is not its fault and that there was a faulty valve at the property. The report from the master plumber who inspected his sewerage system said it was fine. He merely made recommendations for improvements, the most important being to instal a one-way valve to protect the property against future overflows. That is what has happened. He had to re-look at his plumbing to protect his property from incidents like this—the Water Corporation filling the house with sewage—happening again. I do not think that the way he has been dealt with has been appropriate. I am also aware of another incident. Hollywood Medical Centre also had a leak. We were notified, and the minister did respond to me. I appreciated the response, in which he said: … Water Corporation responded to a wastewater overflow affecting non-inpatient areas on the ground floor of the Specialist Medical Centre at Hollywood Private Hospital in Nedlands on 8 February 2025 … Water Corporation confirms its crews promptly responded to the incident, clearing the blockage on the same day, before removing wastewater using a vacuum truck and disinfecting the site, ensuring the affected consultant offices were safe and ready for restoration to commence under the property's insurer. We appreciate that the Water Corporation came in and cleaned it up, but then it was like, "We'll handball it over to you. It's your problem now with your insurers, despite the fact that we caused the problem. We are disappearing off the scene now." What will happen in the future? If someone has a $100,000 claim, their excess will increase and their premium will increase, but the worst part of it all is that all the ground floor specialist consulting rooms at this medical centre are now closed. More than six months after the backflow, only two consulting rooms were open. Others were still closed six months after the spillage. The lifts are still not working. People recovering from surgery are having to climb flights of stairs. Anecdotally, around 20 consulting rooms on the ground floor are still closed. I recommend that we need a new model concerning the Water Corporation. I think that is important when we have these issues. , I am curious whether the minister could let us know in his response today . We know there was the other sewage spill out at Maylands—Bayswater way. What is the Water Corporation doing to look at its ageing sewerage infrastructure system ? What is it doing to mitigate these sorts of things happening again? We seem to have had three or four bad spillages in the space of a year. If I can now move on to my concerns about future development around the state, I think it is important that we look at some of the instances such as in Port Hedland recently. We had a pastoralist who said that he was concerned about supplies of drinking water because half of Port Hedland's drinking water was coming from the Yule River bore field, which belongs to the Water Corporation. That was near or on his property, and he was very concerned about it because it supplied half of Port Hedland's drinking water, which of course, as we know, sustains the planet's largest export tonnage of iron ore. That pastoralist is having to drill deeper now to get water for his cattle. He has gone from about a 40-foot average to a 60-foot average. We also saw the situation with the new development at Port Hedland, which I think was for 80-odd units. The Water Corporation came back and said the scheme was at effective capacity and that no major connection requests could be accommodated until the early 2030s. I asked the Premier a question about that the other day. He said they were working very hard on that issue. No doubt the Leader of the Nationals WA will also have something to say on that when he wraps up, but I am looking forward to hearing from the minister what the strategies for places like Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie and other parts of the Pilbara are. We heard the Minister for the Environment on the radio the other day saying that the EPA will investigate water taken from the Pilbara aquifer. What is the plan? What is the overall plan for a government that has been in place for nine years? That is what I am interested to hear. The South Coast really concerns me. We heard the member for Albany ask a question today—a good question. I am interested in the Water Corp's strategy because Walpole, one of the wettest places in Western Australia, is having water carted from Denmark on a daily basis. In Denmark, the Quickup Dam catchment is not catching enough water. The former Minister for Water spent $40-odd million on the pipeline across from Albany. We know the bore fields in Albany are also running dry. Then we had the King George Sound scenario. We saw the Premier make a captain's call during the election to try to sustain the previous member for Albany in place. It concerns me that these are three of the wettest places in Western Australia. That is why I asked my question at the start of my contribution: What is the minister's strategy in places like Walpole? It is one of the wettest places in Western Australia. I agree with the minister that the South West corner of the state has generally a drying climate but this year over June, July, August and September they had the highest rainfall since 1996 for those four months consecutively. What is the strategy? Why do we not have a couple of new dams around the Walpole area rather than sending a water-carting contractor to cart water from Denmark every day? I am curious to hear the minister's thoughts on that. I want to deal with just a couple of other issues. I am curious about the minister's response to the Revolution Sports recreation centre on Lemnos Street in Shenton Park. The Leader of the Opposition and I have had letters. This facility has been leased from the Water Corp for over 20 years and used as a community sports centre supporting a range of activities and age groups. There is a gym onsite and an indoor cricket training facility. Now the Water Corporation wants to take it back, ostensibly as a storage facility, we are told. There is a lot of grief out there in that community and no alternative venue has been offered. I would love to have some answers on that one from the minister. I have a couple of other issues in my electorate. I am certainly concerned about the bore fields in Esperance. There is increased saltwater infiltration. As members know, there was a proposal for a desalination plant there to not only help with Esperance's water supply, but also to go up through Salmon Gums and Cascade and the like. I am curious about what the plans are for Esperance because, quite frankly, every year it seems like Cascade, Salmon Gums and Grass Patch are always looking at these water-carting scenarios. We have the quarry at Salmon Gums, which could be used. I think wastewater upgrades for Esperance are also a real matter of urgency, minister. As the minister knows, wastewater is a critical component of sustainable water management for our parks, gardens, sporting facilities and schools. We certainly have an issue in Esperance and we are reaching capacity. There is another issue in my electorate and for one of the member for Central Wheatbelt's constituents. There are water pipelines that supply the southern areas and go out through the Wheatbelt. I am quite concerned every day when I am on my farm that the Kojonup–Katanning water pipeline is full of rust. It has wild oats about five-foot deep so if and when there is a leak, there will be issues in welding it up, with fire risk and the like. I suggest better maintenance in weed control along there. Is there a replacement program? The Kojonup–Katanning line is about 40 kilometres long and, honestly, constant repair work is going on. Ironically, we were sent photos from one of our constituents of a similar pipeline in the Brookton area. He says: You will witness the pathetic finger in the Dike and square peg in a round hole technology used by our Water Corp for repair of our ageing pipeline. These repairs have been just criminal towards the important of our water supply in regional WA. I do not know whether the minister can see it, but there are several photos here of the rusty pipeline. The classic is the square peg in a round hole. This pipe has been fixed with two wooden stakes that have been slammed into it. That is not good enough as far as I am concerned. As he said, it is a square peg in a round hole. I find it hard to believe, but this is an issue. These pipelines are a major issue. As I said, whether it is the Katanning–Kojonup pipeline or the member for Central Wheatbelt's pipeline up here, Brookton way—he might have to go up and knock those pegs in a little bit more to make sure they do not come out—this is a serious issue. I am curious about whether the Water Corporation has a long-term strategy to replace those pipelines that are reaching the end of their useful life when we have a roughly $600 million to $700 million a year dividend and whether that will be withheld or used up. I am looking forward to hearing from the minister about that matter in his response. Whether it be the sewerage blockages, the sewage spillages in Beaconsfield, Spearwood or out there in the Bayswater, Maylands and Caversham areas or the pipelines right around this state that are feeding off the Harris River dam supply, these are the infrastructure issues we have. What are the long-term strategies for this ageing infrastructure? What are the strategies for development? As I said, Port Hedland is the most important port for not just Western Australia, but Australia. Now we have the Water Corp saying, "We have got no water for future development in 2030." I am sure the Leader of the National Party in his role as the shadow Minister for Regional Development will no doubt talk about Port Hedland and some of the other towns around Western Australia. We had the Premier stand up a few weeks ago and say, "Move to regional WA. We have got to move out to regional WA." Then we have Water Corp saying, "We have not got a strategy. We have not got the water. What are we going to do?" Those are the questions I look forward to being answered today. I know there are people like the member for Kalamunda, who has some real issues in his electorate as well. I certainly look forward to hearing the contributions of those others.

Ms Libby Mettam (Vasse—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (4:48 pm): I rise to support the motion moved by our shadow spokesperson for water and member for Roe, condemning the Cook Labor government for the mismanagement of water assets in the state. In support of the motion, I will be raising two key examples of mismanagement of water assets in my electorate of Vasse. The first is the long-term problems associated with the Vasse River pollution and the handling of the regeneration over the last eight years. This is an environmental disaster and a significant concern across the Busselton community. The second is the Labor government's abandonment of a 2016 project to consolidate and secure the Dunsborough water supply. This was designed to remove existing inefficiencies in potable water supply, providing certainty of supply, and to provide a viable non-potable water supply for the town's sporting and recreational facilities. I raised both these issues when I was first elected to this place, but although the previous Liberal–National government took significant steps to address these concerns, they have been either diminished or abandoned by this Labor government. This shows, in one case, Labor's willingness to accept and do little about the environmental disaster and, in the other case, its complete lack of interest in public sector efficiency and the best-practice management of our precious water assets. First, I will mention the Lower Vasse River. This is an approximately 5.5-kilometre stretch of the Vasse River that runs from the Vasse diversion drain to the Vasse–Wonnerup estuary and flows through the centre of Busselton. This section of the river has been significantly modified over the years. A large proportion of the catchment flows have been diverted to Geographe Bay via the Vasse diversion drain to protect residential properties in Busselton from seasonal flooding. The water quality deterioration has been exacerbated by historical barricading of the town section of the river by a weir structure to maintain water levels during the summer months. The combination of high nutrient loads in the run-off from agricultural areas and significantly reduced flushing during the winter period, with no summer flow, has led to the current very polluted state. It is now a dead zone, subject to fish kills and harmful algal and cyanobacterial blooms, which are seriously harmful to human health. In 2013, the Liberal–National government appointed Professor Barry Hart to undertake an independent review of the Vasse waterways, including a review of the vexed issue of the water quality management of the Lower Vasse River. In 2015, it established the Vasse taskforce, chaired by the then Minister for Water. From the very beginning, it provided $15 million in funding over four years to implement strategies for improvement. Some initial work on the wetlands, management structures and river verges to improve the quality of water run-off began to make some significant improvements in the overall wetland system. Then we had a change of government, and the Vasse taskforce was downgraded to an interdepartmental body, and its funding was severely curtailed. The City of Busselton has put up its hand to take the lead for the quality part of the overall Lower Vasse River plan. It has done this perhaps in frustration at the lack of progress. It developed a robust management plan for improvement, which was largely focused on excavating the riverbed's nutrient-rich sediment. The City of Busselton has matched state government funding for the project with like-for-like funding since 2021, but this has only amounted to a total of $1.3 million over the past five years. Excavation is expensive. It takes time, and it requires large excavators and the treatment of the acid sulphate soils on removal. The areas that have been excavated are much too small to alleviate the algal blooms or have a positive impact on water quality. I commend the City of Busselton and the members of the community who, among the taskforce members, have worked hard and against the odds to try to improve the Lower Vasse, but they have been challenged by a lack of funding and by the complex bureaucratic management structure of the state government agencies that oversee the project. As it stands, the Lower Vasse remains a cesspit, without any foreseeable medium-term solution. The second issue I want to raise is the challenge of providing a long-term potable water supply in Dunsborough and the Labor government's missed opportunities to solve this problem. Dunsborough's town water supply is managed by Water Corporation. It uses a limited supply of poor-quality groundwater, which requires expensive treatment before distribution. The growing supply shortfall is made up with the purchase of bulk water from Busselton Water, which Busselton Water extracts from the deep Yarragadee bores. All future increases in water demand will need to be met by Busselton Water and this licence. Water Corporation charges Dunsborough residents and businesses, and the charges are significantly higher than Busselton Water charges, when they do not need to be. Water Corporation receives an annual operating subsidy to meet Dunsborough's water supply costs. In contrast, Busselton Water operates a profitable business, providing annual dividends to government. Busselton Water is responsible for source development to meet current and future needs, including Dunsborough current and future needs, but it cannot control water-use efficiency in Dunsborough, such as leak detection and customer consumption management, or take advantage of operational benefits, such as elevated water storage. This would occur only if the two schemes were fully integrated and managed as one. Busselton Water must, however, also plan to meet the cost of capital investments to satisfy increased consumption going forward, including during peak summer periods when there is considerable demand due to the influx of tourists to the area. Furthermore, Dunsborough has no source of non-potable water for the reticulation of sporting ovals, public open spaces, schools and golf courses. The Dunsborough Lakes Golf Club has relied on a temporary arrangement to take water from a privately owned source. Football ovals and school ovals must use expensive potable water. On the ground, this means that Dunsborough Primary School pays over $130,000 annually to water its playgrounds and ovals. In contrast, schools in Busselton pay about $22,000 annually to supply water for their playgrounds and ovals. This is an efficiency cost, which is having an impact on our school communities. Under the previous Liberal–National government, a proposal was put forward in 2016 to transfer Dunsborough's water supply services from Water Corporation to Busselton Water on a non-commercial basis, and the proposal was supported and approved by cabinet at the time. However, in 2017, after the change of government and despite the commencement of implementation, a decision was made by the then McGowan government's Minister for Water to not implement such a change. The proposal would have unlocked efficiency benefits, secured a long-term water source for Dunsborough and provided an opportunity to establish a much-needed non-potable water supply scheme for the Dunsborough community. I have raised this matter many times, but Labor has consistently pushed back against the plan. In 2017, the Labor minister said that the reason for blocking the transfer was the potential cost to government. However, just months later, the former Liberal–National government was advised that it would be cost neutral. In response to a freedom of information request, the Minister for Water confirmed that the reason the McGowan government rejected the Busselton Water growth plan was the impact this decision would have on the overall operations of Water Corporation, as opposed to any benefits to the local area. Water Corporation did not wish to implement the efficiency because it reduced the size of its workforce, and it turned its back on the local community and this local government trading enterprise. The FOI information also showed that the Minister for Water had received advice that the Busselton Water growth plan had polarised some organisations within the community. This has left me and many members of the community shaking our heads because we have heard nothing but community support and enthusiasm for such a transfer. It would have meant consistency of supply, downward pressure on water charges and a non-potable water supply for public parks and ovals. As expected, community organisations were strongly behind the proposal. The only people it would have directly affected were a handful of employees who could have joined the Busselton Water workforce. It was clear that their employment and entitlements with Busselton Water would have been intact. In justifying the rejection of the Busselton Water business case, the Minister for Water also made claims that the cost of transfer would be somewhere above $3 million. That was overstated and completely unsubstantiated given it had been proven previously by Treasury that the cost would have been cost-neutral. It is understood that these figures provided by the McGowan government at the time were never substantiated. While the McGowan and Cook governments have consistently referred to the need for budget repair, they have ignored the additional funding the Busselton Water business case would have provided to Treasury over and above the current dividends because of its cheaper running costs and greater efficiencies involved with not having to treat the water as much and a reduction in the Water Corporation operating subsidy. The government has rejected an innovative and affordable plan for a Dunsborough water scheme, which has come at the cost of many organisations across the community. The proposal would have established an optimised integrated regional water supply scheme within the boundaries of the rapidly growing City of Busselton and provided viable options for coordinated water efficiency measures in our drying climate. There would have been significant savings from Dunsborough not needing to continue with its current expensive treatment of a poor-quality groundwater product, which could be repurposed as a non-potable water supply for watering playgrounds, ovals, parks, golf courses and schools at a reduced cost—importantly, a reduced cost for Dunsborough Primary School. Overall, the now heavily subsidised Dunsborough water supply provided by Water Corporation would, after transfer to Busselton Water, be transformed into a net revenue water supply scheme paying annual dividends to government. Such dividends could be reinvested into futureproofing the water supply scheme for the local community to benefit from. Given it is Water Week, I believe it is appropriate to raise the great value of our water assets and the significant challenges we face in protecting them for the long-term benefit of us all. We all ask for wise, knowledgeable and efficient management of water resources. That is exactly what we want and it should be a priority. It needs proper funding, investment, research and best management practice from all water utilities. The two examples of mismanagement by the current government in my electorate of Vasse that I have highlighted today are very reprehensible and also concerning. It is time the government accepts its responsibility as our water manager and properly invests in and listens to the community concerns about the management of these vital water resources. I will leave my comments there. I know other members would like to contribute to this worthy debate.

Mr Bevan Eatts (Warren–Blackwood) (5:04 pm): I also rise in support of the motion: That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for its ongoing failure to manage Western Australia's water infrastructure, service and supply, resulting in widespread system decline, resource mismanagement and lost opportunities for growth and development across the state. Nowhere are those lost opportunities more obvious than in regional Western Australia. Across Warren–Blackwood, communities are ready to grow, but they are being held back from it. We have land and jobs and demand from residents, retirees, key workers and businesses, but we do not have the water infrastructure to support that growth. The result is that housing developments are stalled, infill potential is wasted, drought resilience is ignored and towns already zoned for growth are stuck in limbo. This is a systemic failure and it falls squarely at the feet of the Cook Labor government. I will look at Northcliffe. Northcliffe is located in one of the highest rainfall areas in the state, which consistently receives over 1,000 millimetres of rain a year. Let that sink in. That is one metre of rainfall every year, yet there is no permanent water supply—just water carted by truck every day all year round from either Pemberton or Manjimup. This is anywhere between a 60-kilometre and a 120-kilometre round trip, depending on the town that it is being carted from. I am not sure what the exact cost of carting that water has been over the last 10 years, but it certainly is not the cheapest option for the taxpayers of Western Australia. If members consider the cost of building a dam that will become a reliable source of water for not only the town water supply but also ensuring the safety of the town against bushfires, surely this would have been a more economical option for the state over such a long period rather than trucks going up and down the road. This is not just resource mismanagement; it is a lost opportunity in one of our most viable and beautiful residential locations. Northcliffe is a prime site for residential development, with businesses looking to expand and housing workers. The added potential to attract new residents boosts local services and helps grow the town's population. Without water infrastructure, none of that can happen. A simple quick-fix solution like a subsidy for rainwater tanks would go a long way towards supporting community safety, self-sufficiency and bushfire resilience. We are seeing exactly the same problem in Boyup Brook. There is need, opportunity and effort on one side and silence and inaction on the other. The Shire of Boyup Brook has a developer interested in a 360-lot residential subdivision. That is demand from retirees, young families and locals wanting to downsize or build, but the estimated $7 million water infrastructure bill has stopped the project in its tracks. The Water Corporation has refused to help and told the shire to look elsewhere, but there is no elsewhere. The town needs water and it needs leadership from the state government. Meanwhile, infill housing is restricted because Boyup Brook has no deep sewerage network. Without it, lots under 1,000 square metres cannot be subdivided under state planning policies. Again, the Water Corporation has confirmed it has no plans to deliver sewerage infrastructure—no current projects, no future ones. We are left with zoned land that cannot be developed, a community that cannot grow and a government that refuses to act. Even a modest $2 million pipeline to connect two existing dams has not received funding. That project could boost drought resilience and provide emergency supply during dry spells. I continue to ask: Why is it not funded? In Pemberton, the picture is the same. A developer has approval for 126 residential lots that have already been snapped up by families and workers. People have committed and signed on the dotted line—they have skin in the game. But the Water Corporation wants $7 million for a treatment plant upgrade, despite the developer already contributing $1 million in standard charges. This single project could deliver over $75 million in housing and construction, unlock $30 million in capital works in the next stage and support over 300 lots in the long term, yet it is stalled. This is another project that has been put on hold because the state will not contribute to the infrastructure needed. Incredibly, mains sewerage is being rolled out to the new part of town, but not the old part of town. The same pipe goes right past both. The same need exists on both sides of town, but only half the town has been connected. That is not good planning; that is just poor delivery. The town of Witchcliffe does not have mains water connected. Many of the residents have to buy water to fill their rainwater tanks just to get through the summer months. On 19 August, I requested through the minister's office a formal briefing from the Water Corporation. We received a response last Friday, 17 October, two full months later, and we got a generic reply—no details, no answers, no plan and no acknowledgement of our briefing request. That is not engagement; it is delay and deflection. Our communities deserve clarity, not just copies of the strategic asset plan. We often hear from the government that it is doing all it can to help alleviate the housing crisis. However, I have just outlined the real opportunities available that could make a difference to many regional towns' housing crises and would benefit the entire state of Western Australia. Today I call on this house to support this motion and send a clear message to the Premier and his minister: the Cook Labor government has failed to manage WA's water infrastructure, service and supply. The failure is driving system decline and stifling regional growth. It is resulting in lost opportunities for housing, businesses and development across our state, and it must be addressed with a targeted, transparent and regionally focused infrastructure funding plan. We do not need more promises; we need pipelines. We do not need more delays; we need water. We do not need another decade of missed opportunities, so let us fix it, let us fund it and let us give regional WA the infrastructure it deserves.

Mr Scott Leary (Albany) (5:11 pm): I, too, rise in support of the motion moved by the member for Roe. I would like to make some comments about delays in the Albany desalination plant project. Unfortunately, it was put to one side during the recent election campaign because it had become a hot potato due to its location. A simple consultation process with local industry on the location of that plant might have led to a different result. I acknowledge that the current minister was not minister at the time, but maybe there would have been a different result. The state government made an $8 million investment in a hatchery to supply mussels and oyster stock around Western Australia. It relies on the pristine waters of King George Sound to be operational. To have placed a pipeline only 500 metres offshore that dispersed water with heavy salt content into the bay would have put that operation at great risk. Moreover, there is already a mulies industry down there. Fish are born and go out into the open ocean and then return to King George Sound. There is a trench they go into that is 30 metres deep, where they mature and are then harvested. Local fishermen have told me that if the desal project had eventuated at that location, the heavily saline water would have sunk to the bottom and taken out another industry. I implore the minister to continue with the consultation process; this is obviously having a great effect on us, and we are listening. I also implore the minister to listen to the people who have greater knowledge of the area we are operating in, who understand the tides and who know where that desal water would ultimately be dispersed. There are a couple of really good locations at Nanarup and Sandpatch. Both have great tidal movement and would operate efficiently. There is existing infrastructure near both locations, so that would end up with a good result. Unfortunately, there has been a nine-month or 10-month delay since it was put aside for political expediency. Albany is still the third fastest growing city in Australia per head of population, and this will put us under immense pressure. Although the expectation for delivery is 2030, maybe it will arrive sooner. Let us get that process underway.

Mr David Bolt (Murray–Wellington) (5:14 pm): I rise in support of the motion moved by my colleague the member for Roe: That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for its ongoing failure to manage Western Australia's water infrastructure, service and supply, resulting in widespread system decline, resource mismanagement and lost opportunities for growth and development across the state. We all know that water is really the lifeblood of Western Australia. We use it in our homes, it services our industries and agriculture and, of course, it is important for our environment, yet, unfortunately, the government has turned what should have been a story of foresight and stewardship into one of neglect, inefficiency and many missed opportunities. It is really a system in decline. Our integrated water supply system, which serves Perth, the Goldfields, the agricultural region and much of the South West, delivered about 328 billion litres in 2023–24. According to Water Corporation data, only 35 billion litres of streamflow reached the Darling scarp dams this year. That is despite one of the wettest winters in 30 years. Unfortunately, these figures point to dual pressures: declining natural inflows and network losses. This highlights that water security challenges are not just about sourcing new water, but also about managing the ageing system and reducing waste. We have heard government announcements of $80 million for mains renewal and $40 million for relining, and the government's own budget papers show those figures for utilities investments over the forward estimates, yet the infrastructure gap continues to widen. This government is fixing leaks faster than it is planning for the growth of our network. Unfortunately, this is really resource mismanagement and regulatory failure. An Auditor General's report of June 2025 found that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation "is not doing anywhere near enough" to safeguard Western Australia's groundwater resources amid a drying climate. It was noted that 12,000 water licences, covering about four trillion litres, were poorly monitored. The report describes monitoring and enforcement as weak, ad hoc, reactive and inefficient. Those are the Auditor General's words, not mine. I would like to highlight a couple of different projects, one of which is in my electorate, at Preston Beach. The previous member for my electorate also raised this issue in the past. I know she advocated for an upgrade to this facility, but, unfortunately, her pleas were also ignored. Residents at Preston Beach continue to face longstanding problems with poor water quality that most of them describe as undrinkable. One resident told the ABC, according to my notes: I've tried it and it's an awful taste. To me it's undrinkable. Others report corrosion and sediment damaging washing machines, kettles and plumbing. When I go to Preston Beach, the one thing they consistently say to me is: please fix our water. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has confirmed raw water hardness levels above the guideline limits, noting that there are potential raw water quality issues from the local bore field. The calcium carbonate levels are at 318 milligrams per litre, so, when compared with the Water Corporation's standard of 200 milligrams, it fails that test. Beyond taste and odour, the issue is now one of property damage and household costs. Residents are forced to replace corroded fixtures, install filters and buy bottled water just to get by—a burden that no modern community should have to bear. Until a permanent treatment and reticulation solution is delivered, Preston Beach will remain an example of regional neglect and the growing gap between city and country service standards. I would now like to touch on housing. The state government's Housing Enabling Infrastructure Fund has allocated $101 million to unlock, as it says, 33,000 residential lots, including $59.6 million for critical water and wastewater projects. That is, effectively, an acknowledgement that infrastructure shortfalls are now a key constraint on housing delivery. After years of underinvestment in enabling infrastructure, the government is playing catch-up, funding projects that should have been in the pipeline years ago. Developers continue to report significant delays, often of up to a year, in connecting new estates in growth regions such as Peel, Wanneroo and the South West. In Waroona, for example, the Water Corporation has until recently blocked any new housing developments because the local wastewater treatment plant has been operating at capacity. That has been since 2016, delaying lot releases and estate connections until an upgrade can proceed. I would like to quote from an article on the ABC website of 18 June. This is from shire president Mike Walmsley: "We have had developers who've looked at developing land and they've been knocked back given there's no more capacity in our system,"… Mr Walmsley went on to say: … Water Corporation had blocked potential housing developments due to pressure on the local wastewater facility, which had operated at capacity since 2016. The state government pushed back upgrades until 2028, according to the shire. It continues: Mr Walmsley said the government's responsibility to provide power and water to meet growing housing demand had seemingly been neglected. "Yes, we've certainly got land available, but without those fundamental facilities and resources we can't really open any land at the moment," he said. I note that the Water Corp has been in discussions with Waroona and I believe there is some light at the end of the tunnel, but I encourage the government to continue to push forward with that and make sure that those upgrades are delivered. I am sure the people and community in Waroona would welcome those to be done as soon as possible. I thank the minister for considering that in estimates and for the progress that has been made. It just goes to highlight the challenges of rural communities and opening up new land when developments do not have the proper infrastructure they need. I know it is not just an issue in Waroona. As I have said before, the government talks about record housing investment, yet thousands of homes cannot be built because the pumps, pipes and connections that make them possible simply are not there. When we fail to deliver enabling infrastructure, we fail every first home buyer, builder and regional town relying on this growth. We could talk about the Myalup project and the Myalup Primary Industries Reserve where there are opportunities for future growth and jobs, but the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development report says if feasibility or water supply cannot be confirmed, that project will not proceed. I know the community has concerns around that project, but obviously, just from a technical point of view, it cannot proceed without the water. The local aquifer is fully allocated. Salinity is rising and there is a real risk of saltwater intrusion, so without securer water infrastructure, hundreds of jobs in the horticultural industry in my region will be at risk in the future. I will briefly touch on Wellington Dam. Wellington Dam should be one of Western Australia's greatest regional water assets, a powerhouse for irrigation, agri-business and jobs in the South West. Instead, high salinity has rendered much of its water unfit for many crops, forcing farmers in the Collie River irrigation district to restrict themselves to lower value production or soil degradation. Government and industry alike have recognised Wellington's rising salinity as a lost opportunity for irrigation expansion and regional growth, with state reports noting the dam's water is now roughly twice the potable limit. Although feasibility work has been undertaken over the years on the Myalup–Wellington water initiative, the project remains unrealised and no comprehensive remediation or catchment-wide management plan has yet been implemented. I also acknowledge that has been a difficult project and the challenges around the project's arrangements, but the fact remains that one of the state's most strategic reservoirs continues to operate below potential as a consequence of years of underinvestment and delayed decision-making. It is one that needs urgent support and a secured future. We know the government likes to make big announcements. The state government's $543 million 2025–26 budget commitment to upgrade the Goldfields pipeline acknowledges that the ageing 566-kilometre-long system commissioned in 1983 is reaching its limits. However, as the independent body, Infrastructure WA, has made clear: There is no current contemporary, long-term, statewide direction for the water sector … a modern legislative framework is required. Although the upgrade targets pipeline replacement, critical issues such as comprehensive regulatory reform and full replacement of legacy infrastructure remain unaddressed. I call for competent leadership and stewardship. A strong Water Corporation and an empowered Department of Water and Environmental Regulation are essential to our future. The Auditor General has warned that failures in regulatory oversight threaten the sustainability of water resources that are already under pressure from a growing climate. That should be a wake-up call to all of us. In conclusion, under this government, we see declining streamflows, wasted water, oversight failures, approvals in mining catchment areas that should never have been approved, housing projects stalled and agriculture curtailed. This is not good management. It is more akin to neglect. Western Australians deserve a government that treats water as a foundation for growth, jobs and community. I commend the member's motion to the house.

Mr Lachlan Hunter (Central Wheatbelt) (5:25 pm): I rise today to support my good friend the member for Roe and the shadow Minister for Water for his continued advocacy in this very important, crucial portfolio for Western Australia. The motion is: That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for its ongoing failure to manage Western Australia's water infrastructure, service and supply, resulting in widespread system decline, resource mismanagement, and lost opportunities for growth and development across the state. It is an important motion. For regional members of Parliament, as we heard from previous speakers and even from my friends in peri-urban electorates like Kalamunda, this is a significant issue. I have a photo here to share and I will seek leave shortly to lay it on the table because this shows a day in the life of someone who lives beyond the hills of Perth, out in regional Western Australia, particularly in my electorate of Central Wheatbelt or in the electorates of Roe and Mid-West, and probably Geraldton and maybe Murray–Wellington as well. This is a photo that I took during the state election campaign as I was traversing the great electorate of Central Wheatbelt. It is the size of South Korea. There are 28 local governments. It is a vast electorate. You cannot just go home for a Bex and a lie-down when things get a bit too heated in this place. Mr Peter Rundle interjected. Mr Lachlan Hunter: That is right, member for Roe. It is a burst water pipe. This is what we are expecting in regional Western Australia. I seek leave to lay this document upon the table for the remainder of the sitting. (The paper was tabled for the information of members.) Mr Lachlan Hunter: I urge members to take a look at that photo. It is of a water pipe between Brookton and Pingelly. When I was driving along Brookton Highway to Pingelly Road, I saw this burst water pipe. As many people would in my electorate, I thought: is it a bushfire? It seemed like steam, because it was bursting up a good 20 to 30 metres. But when I got closer, it was actually a burst water pipe, which is a remarkable waste. The minister would agree with me that it is a remarkable waste of the precious resource that is water. Mr Don Punch: Will you take an interjection? Mr Lachlan Hunter: I will always take interjections from you, Minister for Water. Mr Don Punch: I was just interested whether you reported it to Water Corp before or after you took the photo? Mr Lachlan Hunter: I did not do it before I took the photo. I will take that interjection because as the former minister for Regional Development, the minister would know that the Wheatbelt has very poor mobile phone reception. I took the photo on my iPhone and I waited till I safely stopped in the town of Brookton, when I was dropping off my how-to-vote cards to our great constituents there. Then I called the Water Corp to inform them of my geotagged photo with the report. I think I called the former Minister for Water as well, the former member for Central Wheatbelt. I informed her of this leak. Mr Don Punch: From the site or from the town site? Mr Lachlan Hunter: It was from the town site, because there was no reception on the way there. That is what we get from this government when it comes to supporting our regional infrastructure. It is an ageing system. While I have the opportunity, I want to put on the public record a report from Infrastructure Australia, the 2022Regional Strengths and Infrastructure Gaps report. It was scathing of the Western Australian government and the Water Corp. The report stated: Infrastructure to enhance water security is of paramount importance to the Wheatbelt region. Infrastructure Australia knows that within the great agricultural growing areas of our state, the state government has failed on our essential water infrastructure. That is in no way a reflection on the amazing staff at the Water Corp, many of whom live in my electorate and do a fantastic job, but it is underfunded and under-resourced. This just goes to show the government's priorities for infrastructure in the regions. The government can fund $220 million for a racetrack in Perth that nobody wants, yet we see things like this. We see water rushing from the pipes out in the Wheatbelt region. The Minister for Water was out there with the member for Kalgoorlie making a great announcement about the Wheatbelt and Goldfields agricultural water scheme, I think it is. Mr Don Punch: I hope you appreciated it. Mr Lachlan Hunter: I did. I welcomed that announcement. It is a good announcement, particularly for the eastern part of my electorate, but I continue to remind this government that the Wheatbelt is not just the Great Eastern Highway. As I was telling the minister, it spans across the geographical size of South Korea and has 28 local governments. It has many small regional offshoot towns like the town I am from, Bruce Rock, where the water pipe burst, and places like Pingelly, Brookton, Corrigin, Wandering and all those other regional towns. It is not just about the water pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie. I ask this government to please look beyond the Great Eastern Highway and look to the small feeder towns that have ageing infrastructure. This report also stated: Limited availability of freshwater has multiple negative social and commercial impacts including anxiety and income stress for businesses. That was experienced just last week in Northam, in my electorate because of the persistent failures in Harper, Church and Moore Streets in the town site of Northam. Those issues have been ongoing for two years. There were five bursts in three days between 8 and 11 September, which left residents without water for nearly five days—five days! We are living in 2025 and yet Northam, a town that is one hour and twenty minutes away, depending on where someone is in Perth, but let us say from Parliament House, and which is one of our key regional centres, had no water for five days. People either had to go to the recreation centre to have a shower or rely on the good, hardworking Water Corporation staff on the ground to deliver bottled water. As I said, the Water Corporation staff on the ground reportedly acknowledged that the affected pipe in that area is in a rotten condition and urgently requires replacement. A town an hour and 20 minutes outside the CBD of a major capital city in Australia had no water for five days. One long-term resident who contacted my office and who has lived on their property on that street for over 31 years says they have never experienced such low water pressure, which was not even enough for basic daily tasks. I will get to Greenhills in a minute, which is just out of York on the way to Quairading. Despite those ongoing failures, no long-term solution has been communicated and there is no clear timeline for the pipeline to be replaced. The good people of the Central Wheatbelt and Northam were enjoying no water for five days in 2025, but when they switch on their televisions, they see an arrogant and out-of-touch government spending $220 million on a racetrack in Perth. The government is more concerned about what is going on with the city votes. Those poor people are sitting in their living rooms wondering what is wrong with the government's priorities. I know that the member for Victoria Park probably has the same concerns as my constituents and is wondering what is wrong with this government's priorities when it is not spending money on essential infrastructure like water infrastructure. That is pretty basic stuff. I will touch on Greenhills. Many concerned farmers came up to me during the York Agricultural Show and said they had experienced this for over a 30 to 35-year period. I want to put on the record and thank the current Minister for Water, who is probably one of the only members of the frontbench—I give credit also to the Attorney General—who responds to constituent inquiries. I congratulate the minister. He is one of the only ministers on the front bench who has the decency to respond to constituents' concerns and therefore has the respect of members of the opposition. As someone who used to work in a political office for a very long time, I remember the big correspondence reports that we used to get from departments about how long a piece of correspondence had been within a department. If I did what The West Australian did and gave the minister a mark for correspondence, I would give him an A, because he has been very good at that. Thank you, minister. However, I have about 50 pieces of outstanding correspondence from the Deputy Premier of Western Australia. The Attorney General is very good at responding. I say to the people of the Central Wheatbelt that if they have a concern that is not political and is about a piece of essential infrastructure in the Central Wheatbelt electorate, the Cook Labor government is not even interested in responding. We on this side of the Parliament know how things work. I know that members opposite will say that I have been here for five minutes and I do not know how it works. We know how it works. Mr Peter Rundle: What mark would the Attorney General get? Mr Lachlan Hunter: The Attorney General would get an A as well. He goes one step further because when people write to him because he actually reads it and he has implemented some of our recommendations in the past. That is a good, responsive, Westminster system cabinet-style minister over there, so well done. But as for their other colleagues—shocking! We will release a correspondence report. Point of order Mr Don Punch: The member is making a number of comments about ministers who are not here and which have no relevance to the motion being debated. I ask that the member confine his comments to the motion. The Acting Speaker (Ms Sook Yee Lai): Member for Central Wheatbelt, can you please keep your commentary to the motion? Proceeding resumed Mr Lachlan Hunter: Thank you, Acting Speaker. I am condemning the Cook Labor government and the minister called a point of order when I was giving him a compliment. Gee, the minister is a hard taskmaster! Maybe I will review that A and give him a B. Genuinely, this is the type of contempt that we get from this government when it comes to listening to constituents' concerns. I have worked for senior ministers in the state government and the federal government. If a minister does not like an MP they are responding to, just get the chief of staff or the department to respond. It is not hard. Members opposite with glass jaws seem to be offended when members of the opposition ask questions about water infrastructure, like the member for Albany did today in question time. We get shouted down by members opposite who say, "How dare you ask questions!" I say to those people in the Central Wheatbelt, if they are watching, that this Cook Labor government would rather play politics over actually fixing issues in the community that are not political. That just goes to show the type of culture this government presides over when it comes to fixing the very basic things in Western Australia. I will turn to the issue of water infrastructure in Greenhills. This is a very serious issue. Many farmers throughout the Central Wheatbelt are preparing for the harvest at the moment. They are considering how they will fill their water tanks in the case of a very serious fire event, like there was last time when a hay shed caught fire just out of York. A letter that we received back from the A+ "minister for correspondence" today basically said that the Water Corporation has put restrictors on that pipeline to those houses. The farmer called me to say, "Lachie, if there was a fire and we needed to fill up a fire unit on our farm, it would take almost 24 hours to get that very basic unit filled up." That is a disgrace. I am pleading with the minister, on behalf of my constituents in the electorate of Central Wheatbelt and on behalf of those farmers who feed our nation, to instruct the Water Corporation to get off its laurels and support those farmers in getting that pressure issue sorted throughout that area. They put their money where their mouth is back in the 1990s, as the minister suggested in his letter. They put their hard-earned dollars into actually delivering what should be a state government piece of infrastructure. We are asking the government to please redirect the $220 million funding it is giving to a racetrack in Perth to fix essential infrastructure in the regions. I am wrapping up my remarks. It was quite a remarkable admission from this minister during the estimates hearings process in which we saw the government's priorities when it comes to Water Corp. I went onto seek.com today and I could not find the advert for a job that the Water Corporation was advertising. It was for a truth-telling adviser for the Water Corporation. Let me read members the job advert at the time. It reads: Lead the design and delivery of a Cultural Intelligence Framework Work with a passionate, supportive team while enjoying amazing benefits Permanent opportunity based in Osborne Park with a generous salary starting at $135,693 plus super and co-contributions Firstly, I would like to know: Has this position of a truth-telling adviser within the Water Corporation been filled? If not, maybe that person does not need to be looking at some sort of strategy, but actually a truth-telling person, maybe within this government's own ranks, needs to be telling the truth about the reality that people in regional Western Australia are facing every single day. I challenge members opposite, when they get in the shower tonight or tomorrow morning and are appreciating their high water pressure, to think of those people out in the Central Wheatbelt who have to wait hours upon hours to have a decent shower or to fill up their sink to wash their dishes. This is basic stuff in 2025. They need a government that is willing to support them. They need a government and a minister that is willing to say to the Premier and the Deputy Premier: off with this racetrack; off with the $220 million. We have people in the state of Western Australia in towns like Northam who have no water for five days. Let us put a stop to the racetrack and fund essential infrastructure like water.

Mr Shane Love (Mid-West—Leader of the Nationals WA) (5:43 pm):I rise to contribute to this motion that has been brought by the member for Roe: That this house condemns the Cook Labor government for its ongoing failure to manage Western Australia's water infrastructure, service and supply, resulting in widespread system decline, resource mismanagement and lost opportunities for growth and development across the state. We have heard from members of our side today about a whole range of areas right throughout Western Australia in which we have seen a failure to provide for the growth and future needs of Western Australians going forward. It is not limited to one area. It is from Port Hedland in the north all the way down to Albany in the south out to Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields, where we saw a belated decision by the government to put some money towards the renewal of some of the pipeline assets there and improvements to actually lift the water supply in the Goldfields by an amount that will take it only to what is actually needed in Kalgoorlie at the moment. It will not lead to growth into the future. In the campaign leading up to the election, the Nationals WA talked about the need for a much greater development of the water supply in the Goldfields, because if there are limitations in basic essentials such as water, those important centres will not develop. I think that the member for Roe and others have highlighted that of late, the Premier has been talking about the need to develop regional centres in order to take some of the pressure off Perth. I am glad that the Premier is now taking this position. It has been the position of this party on this side of politics for decades that we need to see growth in our regional communities. I personally put on the record that in the next few years we need to see the development of a community of over 100,000 people in some of those regional centres, in which case we will actually get the types of tertiary services that enable people to live a complete life in those areas and not have to go to the metropolitan area for things such as health care and education at all levels. That happens in even the major communities such as Albany, Kalgoorlie and Bunbury. People still have to go to Perth because in Western Australia, only Perth is fully serviced with all the needs for a full life. That has to change, and it starts with basic things like water. Water is such an important factor. I have the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's annual report, which I think was tabled recently, and I am looking at some of the key efficiency indicators for the department. I have to say that it is disappointing. The first outcome is headed: Outcome: Western Australia's growth and development is supported by the sustainable management of water resources for the long term benefit of the state: The key effective indicators are broken down into two components. The first is: Proportion of stakeholders who perceive the Department to be effectively managing the state's water as a resource for sustainable, productive use In 2023–24 there was an actual figure of 63%—I am just going to put my glasses on, because I do not want to miss anything; it is in a funny little font—and a target of 65% for 2024–25 with an actual achievement of 38%. In other words, there was a variance of 27% on a fairly basic target of only two-thirds of people agreeing with that very important indicator. The department's actual achievement was 38%. I think the minister needs to look at that to see what is going wrong in his department to cause that perception. The other key effective indicator is: Proportion of priority growth areas that have a water supply planning strategy It states here that there was an actual achievement in 2023–24 of 100%. I am not sure whether that is true or not; that seems to be extraordinarily high, because the target for 2024–25 is a mere 33%, and, in fact, the achievement was only 22%. I think that again is a massive failing of the department's own key effective indicators in its recently published report. There are a lot of other factors that also look quite worrying such as water information, the costs of delivery of certain bits of advice et cetera. I think that some issues within the department that have been revealed in its own report for the water side of things—not going into the environmental regulations and all the rest of it—are actually very worrying. I want to talk briefly about my own electorate of Mid-West because I think that sometimes, as a leader, I tend to talk about other people's areas more than my own. Given the fact that I represent an area that goes from the tropics all the way down to the outskirts of Perth, there is very large diversity in that electorate. One area of diversity is in the Shire of Chittering. The water in Chittering in places like the Brockman River, which flows through Chittering into a lake system then goes on downward into the Walyunga area into the Avon, eventually ends up in that system. Ellen Brook actually has its headwaters in an area not very far from the Muchea Livestock Centre, actually, and out towards the coast from there. There are other streams in that area that end up in the Gnangara mound. Quite a portion of the Gnangara mound, which is a very important resource for Perth, actually lays under areas of my electorate in the south across to the coast near Wanneroo where I share the Butler and Wanneroo boundaries. As I said, the area where the Brockman River and others flow into the Swan River abuts the Swan Hills electorate. I was out the other day in my electorate talking to a constituent in Lower Chittering on the Brockman River, and she had a situation last summer in which she lost sheep and her pet dog because they were basically poisoned by the water in the Brockman River. It got so toxic that the stench of fertiliser and the like led to a terrible situation. That is very distressing for her. I believe that we need to make sure that more regular inspections and monitoring of the quality of the water takes place there. There are many users of the water along the way—some more formal and some casual, with people chucking a pump in the river and lifting a bit of water out for a bit of irrigation or what have you. Some people are licensed, I think. I am not sure whether historically everybody has been controlled fully, but the department has not seemed very keen in the past to get involved to ensure that the water flow has not been interfered with to the point at which the water is becoming turgid and unnaturally unhealthy. I am pleased to say that I just had a report that a couple of Department of Water and Environmental Regulation staff were at the property today—so at long last, some action might be being taken in that regard. A bit further across on the other side of the Great Northern Highway in Lower Chittering, an area of land—around 850 acres I think—has been contentiously cleared. This area was a pine plantation planted about 50 or 60 years ago. Of that 850-odd acres, probably only 40 or 50 by the look of it is being harvested for pine. People are now logging it. You can see out the back of it that the whole lot has been bowled over. It has been chained and raked by a massive D11 with something like a 15-metre rake. I have done a fair bit of land clearing, but I have not seen a machine that size running through an area. In a few weeks, they bowled over the entirety of that area, which has caused a lot of upset in the Chittering area. Whether they were allowed because it was a plantation or not is in contention. I am not going to go into that. DWER will have to work its way through that. It issued a vegetation conservation notice on the land, but the clearing still went on. We will see what happens. That has left locals very concerned about water quality because the old spring that rises in that property flows into the creek, which runs through and waters numerous other properties before it eventually ends up in the Gnangara mound. All that country is now exposed with no vegetation on it. There are wind rows. Goodness only knows what will happen to the creek water as it gets erosion and sand starts to shift over the summer. It is just grey sand with nothing on it. It has all been disturbed, so I am very concerned about what will happen in that water supply. I have a few minutes left, and I want to touch on the Murchison area. I know back in 2022, a program of $25.7 million was announced under then Premier, Mark McGowan, to improve water supply and quality in Murchison towns. I recently went through those communities in Sandstone, Mount Magnet, Cue and Yalgoo and people complained to some extent about water quality. I have had permission from the Speaker to display this little prop. This is a little aluminium shovel that you use to take ice out of your fridge or whatever. This is the result of sitting around with Sandstone water in your little ice shovel. As members can see, it is completely covered with a white substance; it is some sort of calcium I think. It is certainly not something that one would want to be ingesting. That water has been tested, but locals tell me that they have a bit of a spring clean and clean out the unit. There is some filtration unit there. They then test the water and it is fine. The trouble is that before they get there, it is not fine—and that is when this type of thing occurs. One resident had done some independent testing of the water and some of the elements. I think the member for Murray–Wellington had spoken about calcium carbonate in some of the water at one of the beach sites in his area. This is well over the calcium carbonate level recommended by the Australian drinking water guides. The total dissolved solids in the drinking water should be at a range of zero to 600 milligrams, but is at 1,276 milligrams per litre. The level of manganese is at a level that will cause staining. Sodium is high at 310 milligrams per litre, when it should be between zero and 180. Chloride is at 411 milligrams per litre, when it should be at a maximum of 250. Nitrate is at 15.08 milligrams per litre, when it should be at a maximum of 11.3. Silica is at 84.8 milligrams per litre, which again is high and over the limit. The water in these communities is not that flash. The local advice is that if you drink this stuff in the summertime, you end up getting thirstier the more you drink it. Naturally, I think they are turning to alternatives. There is not a lot of rain out at Sandstone. I suppose a few rainwater tanks are here and there, but it is a pretty dry old area. Yalgoo, again, has been impacted by maintenance that has been done there in the past few weeks, with plant failures and pipe failures. Consequently, the majority of the water is being brought into town from Geraldton. I do not know whether members have ever driven from Geraldton to Yalgoo, but it is not a short drive. It is quite a distance. I am told the water is being carted out by contractors in the back of poly tanks. The water from the cold water tap in Yalgoo in summertime can come out at about 40 to 50 degrees, which is probably about what you want to get out of your hot water system, not your cold tap. The locals are looking for options like perhaps shade over the tanks or something. If you actually burnt yourself on something, you would not be able to get cold water in Yalgoo unless you had something in the fridge. These little Murchison communities feel that they are well out of sight and out of mind. Let us remember that a lot of that area now is pumping in terms of mining. A truck is running through the town to Geraldton port every few minutes. Yalgoo has a 200-tonne truck running through every six minutes going to Geraldton port. We know that the Minister for Local Government has these very communities in her sights with amendments to strip away their ability to raise some money on miscellaneous mining licences. I will be asking: What will happen to enable these communities to have some financial structure going forward that they can rely on? I can tell members that as a person who thought some of the North Midlands areas had some pretty poor services, since I have taken up towns out in the Murchison, I have seen the really terrible way that Mount Magnet, Sandstone, Cue, Yalgoo, Meekatharra and what have you have been treated by government in terms of service provision in a whole range of local issues. I could talk about a lot of other water issues in the electorate. I am surprised it has not really been taken up much, but we know of a lot of concern in local communities, both in the member for Kalamunda's electorate but also in my own, around the taking of local spring water for the Coca-Cola Amatil organisation under Frantelle or whatever brand it is operating under. That puts a lot of people offside when they know that in the Gingin area, for instance, the department is threatening that it will cut back on water availability to licensed water holders. We know that Gingin Brook has been under some pressure. We know that the Brockman River and other streams in that southern part have also been under pressure. That is another area that concerns the people of that area. I do not have a lot of time to finish up. I think the agreement is that the government has the last hour to make its response. I will highlight a couple of things to the house, though, before I sit down. One of them is the Port Hedland issue. The minister will know that there was a report that said there was not enough water for a development. I did have a newspaper article about that. I think it was an ABC article. It has a lovely picture of me in it too. I am pleased to see that picture at the back of it—lovely picture. Initially, the town was told that a development could not go ahead because the Water Corporation did not have water. Now it is saying it has sufficient water. That is interesting because we need some clarity on this. If we look at page 56 of the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's Annual Report 2024–25 about water supply planning, it states: This year we carried out a rapid assessment of water demand and source options for the West Pilbara (Karratha), East Pilbara (Port Hedland) and Onslow public water supply schemes and nearby strategic industrial areas, including Maitland and Boodarie. The assessment found that aquifer recharge in 2023 and 2024 was limited because of a lack of cyclonic rainfall, but demand for water was increasing. Potential new water source options include seawater desalination, additional groundwater resources and mine dewatering surplus. I am interested in whether the minister can enlighten the house as to the result of that strategic rapid assessment. We have not had a rapid report on the assessment. It would be edifying if the minister could lay that out for us. I know, for instance, that one of my constituents Michael Thompson has a station up there on the Yule River where the some of the bore fields supply the area. I have an ABC article about it here. It states: The pastoralist … he was drilling deeper and deeper to access water for his cattle on the station, once renowned for its water quality. … Water levels in another dam near Karratha, 240 kilometres west, have dropped by 19.5 per cent this year. While the Harding Dam … sits at just 21.6 per cent … We know that water is coming under stress in that area and plans for a desal plant are a very long way away. I will quote from the same ABC article on a discussion with a Water Corporation official, Mr Hambleton. He said: … extensive planning and investigation was underway for a new long­term water source for Port Hedland, including a desalination plant, but it was a complex process. That does not give me a lot of confidence that that is actually underway. I will finish with one other little fact from this report that I thought was interesting. It goes to the scale of what we are talking about. The Acting Speaker: Member, would you like an extension? Several members interjected. Mr Shane Love: I am finished. That is all good. I said I would finish at five to six. I point to the report. Members can look at that.

Mr Don Punch (Bunbury—Minister for Water) (6:03 pm): The government will, of course, not be supporting this motion, much to the opposition's disappointment. I would have been far more interested in the motion if it were a little more collaborative and set the tone for dealing with something that is fundamentally important to Western Australians—the future of water. What we have here is condemnation and polarisation. I might have heard, once, a notion of climate change. Climate change is a fundamentally strategic issue that is implicit in our water planning for the future. I would have been very interested in a strategic conversation and debate on the future of water, but what I heard was a litany of individual electorate concerns. As the member for Central Wheatbelt said, "Write to me and I'll get an answer on it." We could use the parliamentary time far more strategically to critically assess where we are heading with water and build a water future. The member for Central Wheatbelt mentioned truth-telling. Let us have a little bit of truth-telling. I remember the Liberal-National federal government ripping the guts out of funding for remote communities that have fundamental problems with drinking water and wastewater. Not one of the members opposite showed any interest in First Nations people and remote communities—not one. They are here to represent people in Western Australia and they drilled into their own electorate issues. As the member for Central Wheatbelt has said, members will always get an answer from me. They may not like my answer. I think so far tonight, money spent on a racetrack has been mentioned 15 times over. Members have to have a sensible approach to these issues. I am going to remind the members opposite— Mr Shane Love interjected. Mr Don Punch: I listened in silence, member. Mind you, I did notice that the member did not like his member for Central Wheatbelt giving me an A+. I did notice that. There will be a little bit of talk in the party room next week. Mr Shane Love interjected. Mr Don Punch: Let me finish, please. The member is trying to put me off and he is not going to succeed. I am going to remind the members opposite, who for the most part are new to this place, about the track record of the previous government. Then I am going to give them a quick sketch outline— Several members interjected. The Acting Speaker: Members! Mr Don Punch: —of the strategic issues that we are dealing with right around the state. I am going to correct some misinformation, for want of a better word. I know that I have a number of members who are very keen to contribute their perception on water as well. When I was thinking about this motion, there was a quote from Hon Malcolm Turnbull that I was tempted to not use because I thought members opposite started off pretty well, but then they just descended into the usual backbiting and carry-on. Malcolm Turnbull was talking about the current federal opposition leader and the issue of opposition. He said: It's your miserable duty every day to get up and say something critical about the government, and sometimes the things you say are not particularly momentous, … I thought I would start off with that quote because I thought it was a very good way to describe this motion. Let us go back in time to 2015 and the Liberal–National government under Hon Colin Barnett. There is a report here from Joe Spagnolo, that great font of knowledge. It states: The Barnett Government has pocketed almost $1 billion in profits from the Water Corporation in six years, while water charges have surged 54 per cent and WA families have been slugged an extra $521. That is well above inflation, I might add. The report mentions that the budget papers show the government has taken a windfall $974.9 million straight out of the Water Corporation's dividend since 2008. It was not returned to the Water Corporation for reinvestment. The member for Roe noted that we allow the Water Corporation to retain dividends for reinvestment. It went straight out to prop up the poor budgetary management of the Liberal–National government. When all you new members preach to me about water and how terrible our management of the Water Corporation is, or of water generally, just remember that. The report continues: Since being elected in 2008 the typical water bill has gone up by $521 … That is well above inflation. What is our commitment, members? Our commitment is to keep increases below inflation and that is what we have held to. Let us have another look at some of the Barnett government's record. I might add that when it comes to climate change, Hon Dr Graham Jacobs instructed his water agencies to remove references to climate change from all documents. That was a very strategic view of the world. Mr Shane Love interjected. The Acting Speaker: Members! Several members interjected. Mr Don Punch: There we go. Under the Barnett government— Several members interjected. The Acting Speaker: Members opposite! Several members interjected. The Acting Speaker: Members opposite! The minister listened in silence. Can we please afford the same respect? Mr Don Punch: I gave the member the decency of listening in silence. I requested an interjection, which he accepted. Mr Lachlan Hunter: Are you taking interjections, minister? Mr Don Punch: No. Let us continue. Several members interjected. The Acting Speaker: Members! Member for Mid-West! Mr Don Punch: They do not like this. They clearly do not like it. Point of order Mr Frank Paolino: The minister has said that he is not taking interjections, and although you have called the opposition to order, they still continue to interject and speak over you. The Acting Speaker (Ms Sook Yee Lai): Thank you, member for Mount Lawley. I will not uphold the point of order, but I will ask members opposite to afford the minister the same respect that he afforded them in their contributions. You had the opportunity to provide debate earlier and now it is time for the minister to respond. Proceeding resumed Mr Don Punch: Where was I in this litany of the gutting of the Water Corporation? At the Water Corporation, 300 jobs were axed, including 155 in regional WA. I am trying to remember who the Minister for Water might have been at that point. A member: Mia Davies? Mr Don Punch: It might have been. I am not sure. A member: When she wasn't stomping out of cabinet. Point of order Mr Lachlan Hunter: The Minister for Education is yelling out interjections not from her seat. If she wants to participate in some interjections, she should return to her seat. The Acting Speaker: Thank you, member for Central Wheatbelt. Yes, I will uphold that point of order. Minister, please continue. Proceeding resumed Ms Sabine Winton interjected. The Acting Speaker: Thank you, minister. Minister for Water. Mr Don Punch: I will finish on this because there is plenty in here. At the time, there was also a delay in critical upgrades in the Wheatbelt, and a total of nearly $1 billion was slashed from Water Corporation's capital works budget. There we have it: That is the former government's record. When opposition members come in here, they should remind themselves of that record. In contrast, in this financial year alone, we have committed $2.2 billion to critical water, wastewater and drainage projects across Western Australia—not just in the metro area but across Western Australia. That is up from $1.7 billion in 2024–25. We are making a serious commitment. We should think about the sorts of challenges that we face in a drying climate around Western Australia. We have significant climate change and growth in the demand for water, and the growth in demand for water is driven by this government's economic success, which is attracting new investment and new people into Western Australia, so there is a challenge. I was very glad that the member for Albany appreciated the work of this government in developing the oyster farms down there. They are a great asset and great employment base that stimulate the economy in Albany. We know that Albany has a water issue. As I mentioned earlier, we have a process of engaging with the community and planning, with a deadline date of 2030. I am very happy, as I have said before, for members to come and ask me questions about how that is progressing at any point. In Albany, work is underway. In Esperance, yes, there are bore issues. The Water Corporation and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation are working closely together to arrive at a solution for the future of Esperance. This is not a commitment for a $100 million desalination plant feeding into a disused gas pipeline up to Kalgoorlie, which might scratch the surface, but a sensible approach to water security for Esperance's future. I have written to the member for Warren–Blackwood about water servicing requirements at the Greenland Estate in Pemberton. I outlined how we are doing our best to make sure that that can proceed in a sensible, economic manner that will support the developers with an initial 80 development lots. Work is happening there. I am looking forward to the member for Vasse congratulating the government very shortly when I make some announcements in the near future about water in her electorate. I will not go into the detail now. I am going to hold her in suspense, and I look forward to her congratulations. I was very pleased to appoint a local, Ms Neema Premji, to chair the Vasse taskforce, and I am very much looking forward to how she shapes that taskforce to meet the future needs. Ms Libby Mettam interjected. Mr Don Punch: I have already said that I am not accepting interjections. The Acting Speaker: Thank you, minister. Member for Vasse! Mr Don Punch: That is what we have come to expect from the opposition. They ask me to respond to their issues, and then they answer their own questions. It is really bizarre. In the metropolitan area, an enormous amount of work is going into securing the water future of the metropolitan area. As the member for Roe mentioned, the Alkimos plant will be a significant project. He mentioned energy needs. Yes, we are working on every energy solution because every water-source issue will likely have an energy issue, whether it is pumping bores or desalination. Energy is a critical part of our forward planning. In the Wheatbelt, works have already been announced by the Water Corporation in Northam. The member for Central Wheatbelt did not mention that. Mr Lachlan Hunter: Five days—it is not good enough, minister. Mr Don Punch: Well, it is never good enough, when members are just pushing for their own electorate and not looking at the interests of the state as a whole, in the context of their electorate. We are building a desalination plant to support Onslow's future. Just as an aside, I note that the Water Corporation is putting pressure-reduction valves in after the Greenhills community, or individuals within that community, removed them. Mr Lachlan Hunter: Did they? Mr Don Punch: Yes, they did. I think that might have been in the member's letter, although it might not have been. I will tell members that that is what the issue is. That system will fail when it has an unrestrained draw on it. The Water Corporation has a responsibility to maintain the integrity of the system. There are no hidden agendas with this; it is simple engineering. We are investing significantly to address the issues in the West Pilbara. We are working closely with First Nations people. We are talking with First Nations people, and the member for Central Wheatbelt is taking the micky out of the notion of truth-telling and engagement with First Nations people. Remember all those First Nations people in the Pilbara when opposition members go up and do one of their listening tours with their future leader. I have no doubt that the member will join the Liberals at some point when he goes up there and listens to them. We do need to work with First Nations people, both in managing water for the environment and the future and in looking at how we can effectively source water. They are significant partners in this process in the Pilbara. We are looking closely at the future of the bore fields and at what the water options will be to secure the West Pilbara. Yes, there will be a constraint on Port Hedland in the future, as there will be in every location. It is important to keep ahead of the game for water demand and for the eventual take-up by development projects. As I have indicated previously, we are undertaking water-source planning to increase supply in Port Hedland, and I will be talking with the commissioners in Port Hedland about the future water needs and water sourcing to make sure that we can stay ahead of the game. A lot of development projects have been approved in Port Hedland, but not all of them have proceeded, so there is an issue of the timing—when projects proceed and their draw on water capacity actually starts to occur. That work is happening. As members probably know, we are doing some very significant water planning around the Fitzroy Valley in the Kimberley. We have been doing that with First Nations people, and their input has been invaluable in informing Western science about the impacts of water usage on country and in informing the opportunities for supporting economic development in the Fitzroy. Then, we have the Goldfields. I am sure that the member for Kalgoorlie will be speaking very shortly, so I will not steal her thunder, other than to say again that we are looking very closely at how we can support water security in the Goldfields. Water is fundamental to the operations of the state. Nobody on this side of the house doubts that whatsoever, but it will be important to take the strategic view of starting with the environment and what it can support in a situation of climate change, drying climates and major storm events. Then we have to look at the reliability of water sourcing. I think the member for Roe might have raised the issue of stormwater run-off. The run-off issue is that in the very wet periods that we get at the moment, the ground is so dry that it just absorbs the water, and we do not get the surface water run-off into the catchment areas. That is a critical issue for inflows. Currently, our dams in part have water from the catchment, but in part they are also storage areas for our desalination plants. The future will be a mix of desalination and groundwater, with probably less reliance on surface water, given its variability. Mr Peter Rundle: Are you looking at any areas like Walpole, minister, and the dams? Mr Don Punch: As I said, we are looking at all areas of the state. I am happy to take questions through my ministerial office on individual locations and what can and cannot be done. But as I said, there is a lot to be done, and it is a continuing process because the system is getting bigger and the demands are getting bigger. We have a very large integrated network of water delivery, and we have a very large network of wastewater management. Every new water source yields a distributional issue and then yields a disposal or recycling issue. Recycling is going to become incredibly important into the future. Those are the sorts of strategic conversations we need to have to build a sense of what our water future will be and not base an argument on the fact that the member for Central Wheatbelt gives me one picture of a burst pipe in a location between, I think, Brookton and Beverley or on that pipeline. Mr Lachlan Hunter: Pingelly. Mr Don Punch: Yes. Because it is such a big network, pipes will burst. The data that I have seen suggests that even though we have increased the scale of the network, there has not been an increase in the number of incidents compared with previous years, including previous years when the National and Liberals were in government. The reliability of the system is there, and the Water Corporation works incredibly hard. It is pioneering new technologies, including pipelining in wastewater so we do not have to dig up the pipes, but we can line them. Continuous improvement and innovation is a fundamental part of the Water Corp's agenda. I mentioned that we have a major commitment in capital and asset management, and we certainly have a very large commitment in the maintenance budget. But housing has come up, and housing is one of the government's key objectives. Addressing the housing shortage that we have by triggering new development is a key issue and new developments require water. We have the $400 million Housing Enabling Infrastructure Fund that the Water Corp can access. We also have $50 million that goes each year to the Water Corporation and Western Power to build water and power infrastructure to unlock housing-ready land. Therefore, there is a very strong commitment to looking at how we will address the particular housing needs and localities. Again, not every housing development is contingent on the timing of water and power. There can be other development issues, so it is not always a water issue. The member for Murray–Wellington mentioned Waroona. I am very confident, and the Water Corp has assured me, that planning for Waroona's wastewater will coincide with the development frontier of the developers and their planning and timelines. Bringing assets together so that they are in time for development is a key part of how we roll out water infrastructure. The other area that is really interesting is wastewater infrastructure. We know that wastewater is a critical issue right around regional WA. In fact, I was out today at the innovation centre for water, and it is looking at some of the pilot plants that are in development that can be very useful for small communities in the Central Wheatbelt, for example, to help replace or provide an alternate option to the existing small-treatment programs that they have. It is an opportunity for recycling and treating water to the extent that it can support parks and gardens and take the pressure off water bores. That is a critical part of the strategic picture. We are looking at every opportunity and opening every valve—rather than pulling every lever—to address those issues and make sure that we maximise the opportunities for water to come through. I will come back to a couple of issues. I want to correct members because the Water Corp has been reflected on very badly by the opposition over a couple of issues. The first one is Mr Allison's investigations. The Water Corporation maintained contact with Mr Allison about his living arrangements and offered assistance while the property was unsafe and undergoing repair to explore what additional financial support would be acceptable and might be appropriate during his displacement. To date, notwithstanding that he has put in the Ombudsman's complaint, he has declined all those offers. Mr Allison is actually rejecting offers to work with the Water Corp to try to address this situation. In relation to the matters raised for the issues at the specialist medical centre at Hollywood Private Hospital on 8 February, I note that inpatient care was not affected by that. The blockage was caused by a build-up of fats, oils and grease, mixed with rags and other things, that really should not have been inside the pipes in the first place, and that was in the discharge pipe from that building. It was the material that was going into those wastewater pipes, through the hospital and medical centre, that caused the one-off event. No previous blockages had been recorded at that site. Crews cleared that blockage. They removed the wastewater using a sucker truck. They disinfected the site and made the affected consultant offices safe and ready for the insurer to begin restoration. That is the role of the Water Corp. Therefore, it was not a cavalier disregard; the Water Corp did what it was supposed to do. This was a blockage that was a consequence of actions within the building itself. The insurance body is the appropriate body to undertake rectification inside the building, and the Water Corp, as I have always seen it do in the time that I have been minister, is very responsive to making sure that it deals with the issues. Mr Peter Rundle: Revo Fitness sports centre, minister. Mr Don Punch: Yes. A fair amount of work has been happening with Revo. I will just answer that one for the member if I can find my bit of paper. My understanding is that there has been a long process of discussion with the Water Corp on addressing that issue. I cannot find my notes on it right at this point, but I am happy to deal with that out of the house and take a note from the member for Roe on that and provide a response. As always, there are two sides to the story, and my understanding is that the Water Corp has been acting in a very responsible manner to work with Revo to find a solution, so we will deal with that out of here. In relation to non–standard water agreements, member for Kalamunda, I think this is one of those areas in which we will be disagreeing. Non–standard water agreements are in place across a whole range of locations in Western Australia. Regarding the Water Corp and the people in Chidlow, that was a fair and reasonable outcome, and my understanding is they were agreeable to that outcome. Again, it is one of those times when people may not like the answer, but I am not going to unpick the entire framework of non–standard water agreements, which would result in people not accessing Water Corp infrastructure as a consequence. Mr Adam Hort: It was Wooroloo. I thank you for Chidlow, but it was Wooroloo. Mr Don Punch: Yes. I want to touch briefly on the issue of proclaimed water sources, and a bit of reference is made to Coca-Cola Amatil. Again, this is when the legislation is very prescriptive. An area is either proclaimed or not proclaimed. If it is proclaimed, under our current legislation every user becomes subject to licensing in the area. If it is not proclaimed, as a consequence of the action of Hon Graham Kierath, a Liberal minister back in the day, planning responsibility is delegated to local government for non-proclaimed water areas and access to water. I understand that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation made a number of attempts to work closely with the local authority on those matters, but the local authority did not engage with it, and that is not something that we can address. I have one final point. I am not sure who raised this one about Mundaring Weir; I should have made a note. Was it the member for Central Wheatbelt? Mr Adam Hort: It was me. Mr Don Punch: It was the member for Kalamunda. I have to say that I am certainly not prepared to risk public health by de-constraining water catchment areas unless people are prepared to pay significantly more for water because of a consequence of the treatment capacity that is required. It is a risk. Since I have been minister, I have seen the risks firsthand, and I certainly would not want to be jeopardise public drinking water sources. That is probably an answer the member is not going to like, but there you go. Thank you very much. I will leave it to my colleagues who want to make a contribution.

Ms Ali Kent (Kalgoorlie) (6:29 pm): Thank you, Acting Speaker. Mr Lachlan Hunter: That old chestnut! Ms Ali Kent: Come on, I have not even started yet! The member is going to love this one. I am following on from the Minister for Water. The minister lives in the regions, as do I. You know, the place beyond the Darling Scarp. We can talk about the regions because we actually live there day to day and know what happens there. He gave a brilliant explanation about what was happening with water all over the state. It was really interesting because sometimes we do not know what is going on beyond our own patch, which we concentrate on. I have learnt quite a lot. One really important point is that water from the sky cannot be relied on these days as it could be for many generations. Believe it or not—the sceptics out there will say not—we are living in a different world in terms of what the climate and the changing weather patterns do to our water, evaporation rates, droughts and all those things. Things are quite different. The members for Central Wheatbelt and Mid-West were very involved last year when the Kalgoorlie–Boulder racecourse had some challenges with water because of some long historical matters—let us put it that way. Of course, it relied on water from the sky, but we cannot do that anymore; it is too risky. People who live in Kalgoorlie–Boulder rely on a pipeline that is 700 kilometres away. That is what gets us water every day. It is a scary thought, actually, when you think about it, because that reliance is what we are working on. We were looking at the water situation in the Goldfields, and this was driven by the conversation that we had about the racecourse with the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder. It was said that not enough was being done to capture water when it does rain and that storage facilities were not in place to capture the rainwater and make sure that we not only had the storage, but also could look after the evaporation. One of my election commitments was to put $5 million into a water bank project. This project will improve recycled water storage and capacity to better service community spaces. This was important because when the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder had to stop watering a lot of recreational areas, not only the racetrack, but also school grounds and community spaces suffered. It was not good. The long-term plan is this water bank project, which will improve recycled water storage and capture more stormwater, which is what we have to rely on. I go back to last year. I talked about this quite a lot last year. I was out talking to residents and industry. Water, of course, is such a major thing. They talked to me about how they were worried about the ongoing lack of planning and the reliance on the CY O'Connor pipeline. That was one of the things I talked to the then water minister about. I advocated a lot in that space and managed to get $15 million for project management to see what a future upgrade of the CY O'Connor pipeline would look like. Extensive engineering works were done at that stage, because after nothing had been done in so long we needed to know what planning needed to get underway so that the residents and industry could rely on that water. That had not finished at the time of the last election. I want to draw attention to a lot of the rhetoric that was around during the lead-up to the last campaign. I was campaigning on this $15 million worth of extensive engineering being done through the Water Corporation. We knew exactly what needed to be done. At the same time the Nationals WA members were spruiking the Esperance desalination plant. Mr Lachlan Hunter: We nearly won the seat of Kalgoorlie. Ms Ali Kent: You did not though, did you? I am standing here. What a shame that would have been. At least now the people in the Goldfields have got a representative who can deliver the water commitments that we have been talking about and working on for such a long time. But I will take members back to what was being promised. Mr Shane Love interjected. Ms Ali Kent: The what? Mr Shane Love: I was just thinking of poor old Central Wheatbelt. Ms Ali Kent: Poor old Central Wheatbelt. Yes, I know. All the expert advice that we received at the time indicated that it made no sense whatsoever economically or environmentally—on no spectrum—to spend large amounts of public money on that coastal desalination plant in Esperance when the Goldfields pipeline, the existing infrastructure, could be upgraded at a much lower cost for the same benefit. This was not just our view; this was the view reached by the Economic Regulation Authority. It found that that proposal was economically unstable. Mr Peter Rundle: What about the people of Esperance? Ms Ali Kent: They have the member for Roe looking after them, haven't they? Several members interjected. The Acting Speaker: Members! Ms Ali Kent: He is not going to do any good in Esperance, is he, unless he wants to take the member for Roe's seat. You never know. He might feel like a coastal change. We did get back into government. I managed to stand alongside the Minister for Water earlier this year, in the middle of the year. Let us not forget now that this was not an election commitment. We had already funded and promised $15 million for that important engineering project work—to look at the pipeline and see how much water could come in there. The election commitment was $5 million for water storage. But that was not enough for the water infrastructure coming to the Goldfields, so what did we do in the state budget? We made an investment of $543 million. I will say that again: $543 million. Mr Don Punch: $543 million? Ms Ali Kent: That is $543 million, minister. That is a staggering amount of money that this government is putting into water infrastructure. Let us not forget what this private members' business motion is all about: water infrastructure and what we are not doing in this space. I am standing here as the member for Kalgoorlie to say that just in July $543 million worth of critical long-term upgrades to the water pipeline were announced. This was a once-in-a-generation announcement because this infrastructure has been servicing the region for over 120 years. We have done the plan, which is important. It shows us that we will be able to deliver 7.2 million litres daily from 2027. That is an increase of 7.3 million litres every day. This investment will fast-track the upgrades to the water pipeline—replacing the ageing pipeline, upgrading the valves and doubling the storage at Binduli  Reservoir. It will help meet industrial growth and enhance reliability—not just for the Goldfields, but where else? Where else is it going to enhance, member for Central Wheatbelt? Where else? I will tell the member. Obviously, the Wheatbelt will benefit massively from my advocacy. Mr Lachlan Hunter: From your advocacy? Who was the Labor candidate for Central Wheatbelt again? I think you had her for about two weeks before the election. The Acting Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt! Ms Ali Kent: This is exactly what government can achieve. When a person works in a government and they advocate for their residents and industry, this is the outcome. The outcome is worth $543 million. Joking aside, the industry is extraordinarily happy about this. I cannot emphasise enough how important that is, and I know that the member for Central Wheatbelt knows that as well. I am going to pass over to the member for Butler. I know that she wants to talk at length about the desalination plant, because the millions of dollars that is going into it will of course feed that water through the pipeline so that we can get it in Kalgoorlie. As I said, we cannot forget that we are relying on water that comes through a pipeline to a place that exists 700 kilometres away. Kalgoorlie–Boulder residents pay the same price for the first 300,000 litres of water that they get every year as do those in the metropolitan area. The average amount of domestic water use in Kalgoorlie is less than 300,000 litres, which means that most residents pay the same as Perth households. Kalgoorlie is a class 5 and step 15 town, which reflects the water supply to the town. I know that the minister did not want to go into specifics about the water, but I want to say this because I think it is important. These are last year's figures, so please do not quote me on them. On average, it costs $16.55 for every 1,000 litres of water supplied to Kalgoorlie. In Perth, that water costs $3.84. The Cook government significantly subsidises the water bills in Kalgoorlie–Boulder, and last year it was to the tune of about $46 million. That is to keep down the price of water for residents and businesses. We know that if people make the choice to live in the regions—we love the regions; I am looking at National Party members over there— Mr Lachlan Hunter: Why are you saying it is so bad, then, that you subsidise water? Ms Ali Kent: I am not saying it is a bad thing at all. I am just saying that sometimes people have to pay the penalty if they rely on a government that— Mr Lachlan Hunter: For living in regional WA? Ms Ali Kent: No. Mr Lachlan Hunter: There's a lot of money that's created in Kalgoorlie. The Acting Speaker: Member! Ms Ali Kent: People are relying on a government to provide this important water to people at the same price as it is provided to those in Perth. Mr Lachlan Hunter: There's not much gold in Perth, though, is there? The Acting Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt, it is unnecessary. Ms Ali Kent: We will debate that after, shall we? I know that other members in the house want to speak on this motion. I am so proud that the government is providing this water infrastructure. Nobody can argue with the figures that I have just talked about. With that, I will just say how grateful I am that we have that water and sit down.

Mrs Lorna Clarke (Butler) (6:43 pm): It gives me great pleasure to rise today to speak on this private member's business motion about water infrastructure. I never thought I would get so excited about water infrastructure, but a little while ago the Minister for Water, Don Punch, the Premier and I looked down into the largest construction site I have ever seen. It was absolutely phenomenal. The photos and videos do not do it justice. We stood at the top of the desalination plant that is being built in Alkimos and looked down. There is a lift on one side that goes down 10 or 15 storeys. The scale of the construction is phenomenal. I thought that was the high point of the Alkimos desalination plant, but recently the minister kindly invited me to come to the laying of the first pipes. It turns out that the pipes are 1.6 metres in diameter and I am pretty short, so I fit inside one of the pipes. I got to stand inside one of the water pipes that was laid. Each part weighs nine tonnes, and we got to see a crane lift it up and lower it into the ground. It was quite spectacular. Although we might think that everything is AI and automated these days, four blokes very safely jumped into the pit and basically started putting the pipes together by hand. It was well and truly made in WA and it is something that I am really proud of. The member for Kalgoorlie spoke very eloquently about the need for this water infrastructure. We have a drying climate and average rainfall is changing, so we desperately need this water infrastructure. It is a Labor government that will build and is building this infrastructure. It is infrastructure that is intergenerational. The pipes will last about 120 years and will hopefully never need to be dug up because they have been designed so that they can basically be lined inside and reused for even longer. Stage 1 of the Alkimos desalination plant will deliver 50 billion litres of water for Perth's water supply. It is even further futureproofed because stage 2 of this desalination plant could supply up to 100 billion litres to secure drinking water to two and a half million people in Perth. The Alkimos desalination plant is a $2.8 billion investment in securing Perth's water supply for the future. It is absolutely phenomenal. I am proud to be part of a Labor government that built this. It has been talked down by members opposite, and, not so long ago, there were WA Liberals who opposed desalination plants. Once again, the Liberals are wrong here on this point. They are wrong to come into this chamber and be anti this infrastructure and anti WA. Whilst they are waging their war on weekend workers and not wanting their penalty rates, they also do not want to build the infrastructure that this great state needs. They do not want to build the Metronet lines. They think Yanchep is a cow paddock, which it is not. They believe that those on the urban fringe do not deserve good quality public infrastructure. I am here to say they do deserve that infrastructure, and we are building it. We are building it in Alkimos and I am really proud of that. On being "Made in WA", the Alkimos desalination plant is well and truly made in WA. Acting Speaker, 32,000 concrete tunnel segments were made in Midland. The steel pipes were made in Kwinana using Pilbara iron ore and Cockburn cement. The pipes will end up being 33.5 kilometres long and will just be absolutely fantastic. I am conscious that the member for Mandurah also wants to speak after me and contribute to this debate. He is shaking his head at me. He should. The statistics really show up the scale of this project and the contribution that this project makes to Western Australia. The Alkimos desalination plant will deliver 1,500 jobs to WA. It is an amazing achievement. These are local jobs. It is very much made in WA and WA workers are delivering this amazing project. One of the other points I want to make is that it is not just building water infrastructure. Labor is basically training and delivering the workforce that will build this massive construction site. Having fee-free TAFE means that we can deliver a workforce to be involved in this project, to deliver this project and to build this project for the future. The WA Liberals would increase TAFE fees; they talk down "Made in WA" and are anti jobs and anti workers. It is this Labor side that is delivering for Perth and WA. As I said, the pipes are 1.6 metres in diameter. Each pipe weighs nearly nine tonnes. Before I stood inside it, I did check with those on site that I was allowed to so that I did not accidentally break it! I would hate for that to happen. It will last 120 years. One of the other lovely features of the desalination plant is the way that the Water Corporation has included the local community. It has consulted the community and worked closely with community members. It will host an open day in my electorate in coming weeks. I must confess that when I came into this role, I did think: "Gosh, it's a big project. I'm going to get a lot of emails and calls about this. This is going to be something I need to get across." The Water Corporation has done a fantastic job of chatting with each person individually, providing the information, allaying fears and contributing to community support for this project. It got the community engaged in naming the huge tunnel boring machines (TBMs). They ended up being called TBM Mary and TBM Karli, and some of the local Alkimos schools and students were involved in that process. Mary might seem a little bit of an odd name, but Mary was actually named after a pioneer alchemist who lived sometime between 99 and 200 AD. I feel like a lot of research from one of our primary school students may have gone into that project to find that name. Mary, this particular alchemist, invented a machine that purified and distilled water, so that is the connection to the Alkimos desalination plant. The tunnel boring machines are currently making their way through and tunnelling out from the desalination plant underground to the sea to build the infrastructure that will help us desalinate water. The machines are designed to be much quieter and cause fewer vibrations than traditional tunnelling machines to help protect marine ecosystems. Mary will take a 2.5-kilometre journey over 18 months to construct a 2.5-kilometre intake pipeline and Karli will take a bit of a longer journey of four kilometres for the outlet pipe. As they move along, the concrete tunnel segments are installed at the same time. It is an amazing piece of engineering. I am told that there will be an opportunity, minister, to perhaps go out on a boat and have a look. It is under the sea, so I am not quite sure what we will see, but we can see what we can see on the sea! As the project progresses, it will create more jobs. The Alkimos desalination plant is a $1.1 billion investment in the state's economy. This includes $950 million going to WA businesses and $65 million worth of contracts awarded to Aboriginal businesses. I want to acknowledge the work that the Minister for Water and the Water Corporation have done on this project. Not only are the pipes made in WA and the workers are from WA, but also many of the contracts are going to WA companies and supporting WA. This is similar to the huge projects we built and delivered such as the Yanchep train line and extending the freeway up to Romeo Road in Alkimos. Importantly, as we train more workers through fee-free TAFE, more than 150 apprentice and trainee positions will be offered. As I have gone around the schools in my electorate, many young people who are graduating have told me that they think they want to work on a big construction project. I have told them there is one just next door and maybe they should give the Water Corp a call and find out the process for getting involved in an apprenticeship or traineeship on this amazing project. I am conscious of the time. I want to hear what the member for Mandurah has to say. He is shaking his head at me. I am really proud of this project. It is a perfect example of how a Labor government is delivering water supply and water security and is building water infrastructure in the state. We should continue to be proud of that and I look forward to the next opportunity to stand in a pipe or be on a boat. Thank you.