Lisa Neville on desal plant and burn-offs

Has Environment Minister Lisa Neville been watching Utopia?

Or maybe the writers of the ABC sitcom that pokes fun at government bureaucracy and jargon were watching her, judging by this response to 3AW Breakfast following a report in The Age suggesting Victoria’s desalination plant could soon be used.

John Burns: Will the desal plant be switched on?

Ms Neville: Well what we’ve started is a process of having a conversation with the community about this.

We’ll take that as a ‘no’.

The desal plant story comes on the morning Ms Neville and the government will face stern questioning over its burn-off practices.

Yesterday’s Lancefield fire that threatened hundreds of homes was started by a burn-off that went out of control.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt told Tom Elliott he will write a ‘please explain’ letter to Premier Daniel Andrews about the burn-off.

Ms the Neville, also the Conservation Minister, said there will be a investigation.

‘I have had some initial conversations about the whole issue of the burn – when it happened, why it happened,’ she told 3AW Breakfast.

Click play to hear 3AW Breakfast’s full interview with Lisa Neville