Ministerial Statement

SAVE THE RIVER MURRAY FUND ANNUAL REPORT

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Small Business, Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry and Trade) (14:07): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Earlier I tabled the 2006-07 Save the River Murray Fund annual report. The Save the River Murray levy was introduced in October 2003 and is charged to all SA Water customers across South Australia, both residential and non-residential. It is a broad-based levy paid into a special fund to support projects in three priority areas:

improving the environmental health of the Murray River system;

maintaining acceptable water quality for irrigation in South Australia; and

improving water quality for urban water supplies.

The South Australian portion of the Murray-Darling Basin contributes significantly to the state's economy, contains sites of international significance and has recreational and aesthetic values that are enjoyed and cherished by people across the state.

The fund contributes to a wide range of projects for the River Murray in South Australia and, more broadly, in the Murray-Darling Basin. The state contributed $21.6 million to the Murray-Darling Basin Commission in 2006-07, and $3.7 million of this total was sourced from the Save the River Murray Fund.

In 2006-07, $21.1 million was raised and $15.8 million was spent on 22 projects, including acquiring water for environmental flows, salinity management, securing water rights and water allocation planning, protecting the environment and community capacity building.

Through the fund, South Australia has now recovered about 14.5 gigalitres towards its 35 gigalitre target for the Living Murray initiative first step of returning 500 gigalitres to the river by 2009; that is 40 per cent of our first step state water recovery target.

As indicated in the annual report, at the end of June 2007, there was $12.5 million in the fund. Of this, $10.5 million is already committed to interstate water recovery projects under the Living Murray initiative; these are the Goulburn-Murray Water Recovery Project and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission project to purchase water from willing sellers, which will deliver 145 gigalitres and 20 gigalitres—that is, 145 billion litres and 20 billion litres—for the environment. The remaining $2 million is allocated to projects that are coming online this year.

While the current drought and low flows are causing significant problems in managing the river, all South Australians can be proud of the worthwhile and long-lasting contribution they are making toward restoring the river's health. The fund is an important initiative in strategic planning for the future of the Murray and, once the river begins to recover from the widespread drought in the Murray-Darling Basin, we will see more and more benefits of this prudent planning and management.