MR PALLAS (Treasurer) — I rise to update the house on a new project of the government to secure our water supply, protect business confidence and provide certainty. The desalination plant is Victoria’s insurance policy against drought, and of course it is appropriate that as a government it makes economic sense for us to claim on that policy. We have made this order of 50 gigalitres in response to our rapidly diminishing reserves and to allow water-reliant businesses to plan for the future with confidence.

Mark Stone, the chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, acknowledges that this water order will, and I quote:

… strengthen Victoria’s water security and provide all Victorians with greater confidence in the supply of this valuable resource.

Victoria is dependent on secure, high-quality water supplies for a prosperous economy. The Age put it even more simply. It said:

The cost of running out of water would be cataclysmic.

Any dispassionate and rational assessment of the situation shows that this makes a great deal of economic sense. I will leave it to those opposite to tell us how an embittered, vindictive, pack of climate deniers see it. These actions are an investment made with an eye to the next 30 years not the next media cycle, because we are getting on with it, unaided by the priceless contributions of Mr Office of Living Better than Victorians over there.

Businesses deserve the certainty of a secure water supply, which the desalination plant provides. Businesses need confidence to rely on secure and affordable access to water.