NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said today everybody understands there is no silver bullet option to solving Sydney’s water crisis brought about by Labor’s 12 years failure to plan and act.

"Our priorities are different to Labor when it comes to tackling the water crisis," Mr Debnam said.

"Our priorities are for large scale recycling and stormwater harvesting – priorities that Labor have neglected for 12 years," he said.

"We need to pursue these measures first to solve our water crisis, rather than hitting the panic button of desalination.

"Labor's only answer is desalination and Jack Thompson. Desalination is not Labor’s measure of last resort; it is Labor’s measure of only resort.

"When there is a rainwater tank in every backyard in Sydney, then we can think about desalination. Desalination is at the bottom of our list, it is at the top of Labor’s list.

"Sydney doesn't have a rainfall problem it has a catchment problem. However, if in the future it actually stops raining on Sydney and there is no stormwater to harvest and no water to recycle then desalination would be a last option and it would be at Malabar, which was one of the sites suggested by the Labor Government

"And if ever a desalination plant became an option of last resort, unlike Labor, a NSW Liberal/Nationals Government would consult the community, and not ram it through on the eve of an election.

"Under a NSW Liberal/Nationals Government there will never be a desalination plant built at Kurnell.

"In December I backed up this promise up to Shire residents by saying we would:

• hand back the site to alternative non-industrial uses and call for expressions of interest from the community and business;

• cancel any tender process or project awarded for building a desalination plant at Kurnell, entered into before the State election on March 24; and,

• appoint a taskforce to consider alternative sites in the Malabar/Botany area if the measure of last resort ever became necessary.

"All of these announcements including my letter to the Shire Mayor on 13 December, 2006 were released to the media the following day and subsequently reported.

"These commitments guarantee to Shire residents that if desalination ever became an option – it would never be built at Kurnell by a Debnam-led NSW Liberal/Nationals Government.

"So today only one side of politics can make a genuine pledge that there will never be a desalination plant at Kurnell – the NSW Liberal/Nationals.

"Labor will start construction of their desalination plant at Kurnell within weeks. It’s a clear choice for Shire residents," Mr Debnam said.