Mr ANDREW STONER: My question is directed to the Premier. Given that the Minister for Water has passed up hundreds of millions of dollars in water saving infrastructure, given that the reaction of the Minister for Rural Affairs was to attack our policy—

The SPEAKER: Order! Government members will come to order. I call the Minister for Tourism to order.

Mr ANDREW STONER: —and given that, when questioned in the House, the Premier's only response was to refer to a media article, exactly how has she stood up on behalf of farmers and irrigators? Is that claim just another example of her spin over substance?

Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: It is quite amusing to be asked a question by the Leader of The Nationals that suggests that media reports are somehow not representative of the Government's position or somehow cannot represent the Government's policy, because that is the only way we ever hear anything from the Leader of The Nationals—a media report appears in the morning papers and before the morning radio peak is over he has withdrawn whatever policy he put out the night before. It is absolutely laughable for me to be asked this question by the Leader of The Nationals.

We all remember that his driver education scheme was going to be mandatory and free. However, within two hours of his announcement he then announced that somebody else would pay for it and it was only going to be a voluntary scheme. That is the sort of media posturing we get from those opposite. It is a farcical question. I shall repeat what I have said about the Murray-Darling Basin guide. Just today I had the opportunity to meet with the national farmers and irrigators from Murrumbidgee. It was a very good and productive meeting—the type of work one does in Government. One does not just go out and say, "We want nothing to do with this"; one sits down with stakeholders.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals will cease interjecting. The Premier has the call.

Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: The Leader of The Nationals does not understand that being in government is not about issuing a media release every day. Being in government is about working—

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Wakehurst to order.

Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: Being in government is about sitting down with stakeholders, listening carefully, formulating a position, negotiating and getting the right outcome for the people of New South Wales. Just today I sat down with irrigators from Murrumbidgee and had a good and productive meeting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of The Nationals to order.

Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: These are ambitious targets that have been set in the Murray-Darling Basin guide. We need to consider them carefully because the reality is we need to decide as a State whether we are willing to do what is required to meet those targets. The only way we can come to that conclusion is by consultation, by discussion, by information gathering and by careful consideration.

Mr Andrew Stoner: Are you accepting the targets?

Mr Barry O'Farrell: You are accepting the targets.

Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: No. I said the decision we have to take—

Mr Barry O'Farrell: Shall we write it again?

Ms KRISTINA KENEALLY: You are so clever. I will repeat for the sake of Hansard and for those opposite what I have said consistently: The decision we have to take as a State is whether we will do what is required to meet the proposed targets. We will come to a position the way we did on the national health reform: We worked with stakeholders and we took to Canberra the position that reflected the best needs of this State. I remind those opposite that if we had followed the negotiating tactics of the Leader of the Opposition with national health reform we would have signed up to what the Commonwealth Government was offering when it was offering less money and we would have walked away when it was offering more. What we will do is what we did with national health reform. I remind those opposite that the position New South Wales took is the position that prevailed nationally.