sign of things to come!

Premier gets a wee taste of it

• 
  
• January 31, 2007

TO drink or not to drink. That is the multi-million-dollar question. For Steve Bracks, it has always been a firm: no way - it might be all right for Queenslanders but Victorians don't drink anything but the best, pure, unadulterated crystal-clear H20. And that's the way it's going to stay.

The Premier has gone out of his way to insist that the debate over drinking recycled sewage is not one that will be had in the southern capital for as long as he's running the place.

Nothing against the stuff, Mr Bracks says, we just don't need it in Victoria.

So imagine his well-hidden horror when morning radio bully Neil Mitchell unveiled a glass of the best in drinking water formerly known as effluent during a live interview yesterday.

"Yeah, look, I'm happy to taste it ... yeah, get a glass," Mr Bracks said to the 3AW host, who was armed with the "new water" brewed and bottled in Singapore.

Asked if he had a personal objection to drinking it, the no-fuss Premier was clear: "No, I don't. My position ... is we don't need it, it's not required, we have alternatives."

His argument comes down to water-hungry Victorian industry using more recycled water, not households. "Industry are big users of water. We can free up a large amount of water."

"OK," said Mitchell, glass in hand, "do you want a lot or a little?"

Mr Bracks: "I'll just taste it, that's all ... Yeah, I don't believe you can taste much difference, really, in water."