MURRAY RIVER FLOWS

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:08): Can the Minister for Water Security detail to the house the quantities of water which will be delivered into South Australia for the water year ending 30 June 2010 both as entitlement flows under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement and as any additional flows?

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water) (15:08): I thank the deputy leader for his question. To put it into context, I would like to take the house through a couple of issues, that is, that the government has recently implemented a number of measures to improve the condition—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, look, again, I apologise—

The Hon. M.J. Wright: Don't do it.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Don't do it?

The Hon. M.J. Wright: No, don't do it.

The Hon. P. CAICA: All right; I'll stay disciplined.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, there is an answer. What we have had is a total of 486 gigalitres of additional water being delivered to Lake Alexandrina during 2009-10.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I do take on board the comments of the member for Chaffey about 'gigababble', which I think is the word he used, and its lack of meaning for those people operating outside the industry. We are working on that as well, about how we communicate about the quantity of water so that it seems relevant to the people who are hearing it. I think that is one of the challenges that we all have: communicating in such a way that it means something to people outside of this chamber and outside of the political sphere.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I beg your pardon?

Mr Gardner: Something Tom can understand.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: Again, I'll match Tom's intellect against anyone's on the other side, Madam Speaker.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Any two.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Any two, yes. Actually combine them; that's right. So, what we have had is a significant additional quantity of water that has been delivered to Lake Alexandrina during 2009-10. That is in addition to 350 gigalitres annual flow that has gone down there. In total, that is over 800 gigalitres of water that has gone down into Lake Alexandrina during 2009-10. I know that, in the new bipartisan approach that is going to be embraced by the opposition with respect to the way by which we handle water in this state, they too will welcome that quantity of water that has been delivered to Lake Alexandrina. The other point I would make—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Sorry; I will slow down. I do get excited when we are talking about water, Patrick. What I will do is I will slow down and I will take a drink of this very precious resource. What I would also say, with respect to the bipartisan approach, is that I know that we will be at one when it comes to this state responding to the Murray-Darling Basin draft plan when it comes out, because the opposition, too, knows the importance of this plan to South Australia, knowing full well, as everyone in this chamber does, that on any fair assessment we have not, in any way, been served well by the existing way in which the Murray-Darling Basin has been managed. So, again, I look forward to the way in which we manage this in a bipartisan way going forward.

The Hon. M.J. Wright: You expect it.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I expect it, because it is in the best interests of the people of South Australia that we do operate in this particular way. To complete the delivery of that additional water by 31 May 2010, what we had in South Australia was an increase in the full entitlement levels for the remainder of 2009-10. Of that quantum of water to be delivered to Lake Alexandrina, we are also starting to flow extra water through our 170 reserve entitlement that we are putting away this year; that is next year's entitlement. So, we are going to have that flow as well. We know that the Lower Lakes are not in a good state of health. I have been down there on several occasions.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I have been down there on several occasions and I will continue to go down there in my capacity as the water minister.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: That is true. As the member for Finniss would attest, there is no doubt that the Lower Lakes have been suffering quite chronically as a result of the lack of water flow into South Australia in most recent years. What we have seen down in Lake Alexandrina is the water level being at its highest level since December 2008, rising to minus 0.9 metres mean sea level in January 2010.

Moving away from the figures, let's say that we have seen its level significantly increase compared to previous years, and that is a good thing. We are seeing it return to a level of health—not the level of health that South Australia or, indeed, the system requires, but enough to make sure that it lives to fight another day in the context of what will be the Murray-Darling Basin plan and how we manage the system as a whole.

We have also seen reductions in the EC levels, the salt levels, within Lake Alexandrina and, indeed, with respect to Lake Albert as well. So, the 480-plus gigalitres of water have provided significant benefits to manage key risks within that lake system. It has slowed down the rate of acidification, it has lowered the salinity in the Lower Lakes and it has, of course, pushed out any decision on the temporary weir for an extended period of time.

The other point I would make is in regard to what water is going to come from the floodwaters. There was some schnook—I should rephrase that: some person—at the estimates hearing in Canberra last night who made some assertion about the fact that there is not even enough water—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: No; this was in the Senate estimates. A person who is rather ignorant and does not know the facts believed that the amount of water coming down to South Australia was not even enough to open the Murray mouth.

An honourable member: Barnaby, that's why.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Barnaby, was it? That explains everything then. If it was Barnaby then that explains everything. It seems to me that at the very least a stupid question like that, or that assertion at the Commonwealth estimates, shows me a couple of things. One is they do not really know the extent of the deterioration of our Lower Lakes here in South Australia, and it will be good that they learn what that is about. The second thing is—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, Barnaby French isn't part of the government. The last time I remember Barnaby—

An honourable member: French or Joyce?

The Hon. P. CAICA: He was your ruckman.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: That's right. No, Barnaby Joyce. That shows me that they do not know the significant deterioration—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There are two minutes of question time to go.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Getting back to this very important issue, Madam Speaker, we have people up there asking questions in Canberra about certain assertions about what water is going to flow into South Australia. The important thing is that they do not even realise the condition of our lakes down here or the quantity of water that is required to remedy the Lower Lakes or, indeed, open the Murray mouth. Getting to the substance of the question—I am sure that is what you will be interested in—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: It's not Kevin Sheedy? The point here, deputy leader, is that we know and you have asked previously about what it is that South Australia has done in regard to raising issues with New South Wales and others about how they measure interception across flood plains. It appears to me—

Mr Williams: How much is coming into South Australia?

The Hon. P. CAICA: From the floods?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am about to get to that.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It is contrary to standing orders to interject and really the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition should be setting a better example.

The SPEAKER: I uphold that.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I will quickly finish the answer and get to the substance, and I will speak slowly as well for Mitch's sake. The difficulty in measuring the quantity of water is that there have been estimates that have been made by the authority that are not quite as accurate as they were when they made that estimate. We are awaiting more detail about what the quantity of water will actually be.