Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: LEVY PROPOSALS 2010-11

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:38): I move:

That the 39^th to 45^th reports of the Natural Resources Committee be noted.

I have decided to put these reports all in one report because I think we have no chance of examining each one of these reports in the time required. Suffice to say that I am sure members will be drawn to the report in their particular area once I have given you an overview.

One of the Natural Resources Committee's statutory obligations is to consider and make recommendations on any levy proposed by the Natural Resources Management Board where the increase exceeds the annual CPI increase. For 2010-11, the committee received above CPI proposals for all the seven NRM boards that collect levies. This was a factor of the CPI rate for the relevant period being unusually low at 1.4 per cent, which was less than many boards had budgeted for.

This year, the committee chose not to object to any of the proposed levy increases for a number of reasons. These were: firstly, that the proposed increases were generally modest; secondly, that the proposed increases were consistent with those flagged in preceding years’ budgets; and, thirdly, that the committee was generally satisfied that the levies and the works of the NRM boards enjoyed a high level of community support.

I do not intend to run through the boards one by one but take this opportunity to speak generally about the committee's experiences with the South Australian Arid Lands NRM Board in 2010. Every year the Natural Resources Committee aims to visit at least two NRM regions to meet with board members and staff and, importantly, members of the local unpaid NRM groups mainly comprised of landholders from that region with an interest in natural resource management.

This year members of the committee have been privileged to visit the South Australian Arid Lands NRM region not once but twice, and I will talk briefly about what we found there. The reason we visited the arid lands twice is because our first trip in July 2010 was cut short by wet weather which, although we were able to get as far as Arkaroola, prevented us from landing at our other intended destinations, with our plane forced back to Adelaide.

Needless to say, committee members, NRM Board hosts and landholders who we had arranged to meet with were all very disappointed. Consequently, members resolved to undertake a return trip to the region as soon as we could, which ended up being in early November 2010. The Arid Lands NRM region covers more than 50 per cent of the state. This would be something that our Speaker, the member for Giles, would be very aware of, and includes the Gawler Ranges, Far North, North East and Flinders Ranges.

Madam Speaker, as I said, you would be well aware of the size of this region as it takes up a good part of the electorate of Giles as well as virtually all of the neighbouring electorate of Stuart. I know the member for Stuart is very, very aware of this fact. Madam Speaker, I know that you have toured most of the region many times and we felt, as a committee, that it is really important that we have that familiarisation as well.

The SAAL region is well-named, encompassing both arid and semi-arid land systems and generally receiving less than 250 millimetres of rainfall per annum. This is even drier than Central Australia and this 250 millimetres is by no means guaranteed, with many locals often going many consecutive years with no rain at all.

In spite of its aridity, the region contains a greater percentage of intact ecosystems and natural biological diversity than any other region in the state. These ecosystems are generally characterised by boom and bust, with animals and plants responding rapidly and opportunistically to rain when and where it does fall. The region is currently undergoing a boom time ecologically, thanks to the local rains and the floodwaters from Queensland.

While fantastic for indigenous species, this rain-induced boom is a double-edged sword with pests, plants and animals also experiencing major boosts to their populations and ranges. Responding to these kinds of intermittent threats from a limited and static NRM budget presents many challenges for NRM boards.

Members were fortunate to be given an excellent and informative tour of this extremely complex and beautiful region by the officers and presiding member of the SAALNRM Board. Members of this committee were all very impressed by the dedication and commitment shown by the NRM Board staff members, particularly general manager John Gavin and officers Janet Walton, Reece Pedler and Travis Gotch, who all provided a wealth of invaluable interpretation and information to committee members on a diverse range of topics including rare and endangered wildlife such as the Plains Wanderer and the world-renowned mound springs of the Great Artesian Basin.

While travelling along the Oodnadatta Track members observed firsthand a number of these mound springs. For members who have not yet seen them, they are natural expressions of underground waters of the Great Artesian Basin. Over tens of thousands of years these springs have created characteristic mound shapes as precipitates and sediments from the springs, together with windblown sediments, have built mounds up to 40 metres in height with the springs perched on top.

These veritable oases in a desert, these springs, have an immense ecological, scientific cultural and economic significance and served as stopping points for Aboriginal trade routes between the Flinders Ranges and Central Australia, as well as providing water for John McDouall Stuart's first crossing of the interior in 1862, the Overland Telegraph Line and the Great Northern Railway. These springs are also key refuges for local flora and fauna, and the most unique species of small aquatic animals not found anywhere else on the planet.

Members heard that these unique wetland environments were variously threatened by the GAB groundwater pressure reduction as a result of thousands of unregulated bores, watering and trampling by stock, campers and tourists, off-road vehicles and water extraction for mining. Members heard that, thanks to the Great Artesian Basin's sustainability initiative provided by the government (federal government matching funds) to cap and regulate hundreds of free-flowing bores, many of the mound springs which were close to extinction have been given a new lease of life.

As well as the arid lands board's work on mound springs, members also heard about its innovative volunteer-run bucket trapping project, capturing and recording reptiles and other animals that fall down some of Coober Pedy's million or so mineshafts. This is an amazing local project. We heard about best practice soil conservation, a particularly strong amount of presentations regarding road grading practices for local roads, dingo management along the Dingo Fence, pest camels, donkeys and feral cat projects and visitor management at Lake Eyre.

This SAALNRM region that we toured is truly spectacular; however, it does present immense management challenges due to its size and remoteness, and associated costs of managing such an enormous area. The committee is currently drafting a report outlining the evidence gathered on our trip and we will offer recommendations on a number of fronts to try to support this board in a number of ways in its management of this critical area.

I would like to commend the members of the committee. We have a fantastic committee comprising of Geoff Brock MP, Mrs Geraghty MP, Mr Lee Odenwalder MP, Mr Don Pegler MP, Mr Dan van Holst Pellekaan MP, the Hon. Robert Brokenshire MLC, the Hon. John Dawkins MLC and the Hon. Russell Wortley MLC. I would particularly like to make a special thank you to the staff. They do serve and support us very well, and we really appreciate their work. Madam Speaker, I commend these reports to the house.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:48): I would like to just add a few words to the comments made by the member for Ashford, who is the chair of the committee. I start out by complimenting her on her chairing of the committee. As a new member, obviously I have never been on a parliamentary committee before, I think she does a good job.

I think it is very, very fair to say that all members do work hard on this committee. We meet for one, two, or three hours every week that parliament sits, and we have spent a fair bit of time outside the electorate. I think that all the members who serve on this committee do so in a very genuine, bipartisan way and do want the very, very best for South Australia's environment, and I really do think it is a good example of how a parliamentary committee can work.

I guess I would also add to that that I do not think that committee chairs should have cars, but that is a totally separate—

The Hon. S.W. Key: I don't.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Okay; I thought committee chairs did all have cars and it wasn't anything to do with the member for Ashford.

The Hon. S.W. Key interjecting:

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Well, we are on the same wavelength then. I think that is absolutely fantastic—

Ms Chapman: Admirable.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Admirable. With regard to these reports, the member for Ashford did say that we agreed with all of the proposed levy increases. They were modest and they were certainly consistent with previous plans. It is a very difficult issue because there is never ever enough money to do this work properly. We saw first-hand the under-resourcing of the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. The flip side of that, of course, is that there are a lot of taxpayers contributing money and they have other competing issues as well, other places they would like their money to go. There will always be a perpetual argument about the value of this work in the full spectrum of taxpayers' minds. There is a strong argument to say that perhaps too much money goes to office rents and into staff but, of course, if you do not have the staff doing the work you actually will not achieve anything. So, certainly, we did agree with all those things.

I point out, too, that in the electorate of Stuart I share a footprint with four NRM boards: South Australian Arid Lands, Murray-Darling Basin, Adelaide Mount Lofty and also the Mid-North and Yorke boards. I take the work that they do and their interaction with this committee extremely seriously, as you would expect.

I would also like to just mention very quickly the issue of merging these boards into DENR, the morphing of DEH (Department of Environment and Heritage) to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and then the taking over of these boards. We will just have to wait and see how well that works. I know that there are quite a few concerns about that out in the regions and certainly out in the area that I represent.

I know, also, that councils are very concerned about the fact that they have to collect the levy and go through quite a lot of administrative work. They feel that the greatest burden about collecting the levy is not actually with regard to the collection itself but the obligation to try to explain it to their ratepayers, who may not quite understand that they are just collecting it on behalf of the state government and think that the councils are actually getting it. So, they not only have to explain why are they are collecting this money but they also get embroiled in trying to explain or justify the work of the board, and that is a very difficult issue for councils to work on.

I will also highlight the fact that this Natural Resources Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into invasive pests and weeds, and that is a very, very worthwhile program to be working on. I think we had 24 submissions, and we have had a few more that just rolled in after the deadline, which I hope the committee will agree to accept. One of the very important ones that has come in slightly after the deadline came from the Peterborough district council in regard to wheel cactus, which is a very threatening weed that is causing all sorts of havoc in the marginal parts of South Australia.

I will finish with those few words because I know that the member for Frome, who is also a committee member, wants to say a few things on this topic. I will just say again that I think this committee is doing good work. There will always be arguments about whether the money collected for the boards is high enough or low enough, and I am very happy to participate in all those discussions with the people I represent in Stuart. The reality is, though, that certainly the boards that are in Stuart, and the boards I am involved with, broadly do a good job, but I guess nothing is perfect.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (11:53): I would like to say a few words on these reports. First, I, too, commend our presiding member, the member for Ashford. The member, as chair, is doing an excellent job, and this committee, as the member for Stuart has already indicated, is a very bipartisan committee. There are no politics in there, and we all have free opportunities to debate and put our views across. We did have input into the increased levies and, as the member for Stuart has just indicated, and the Presiding Member previously, we agreed to the increases. They were very modest, and they have been consistent with the previous increases.

The member for Stuart has also indicated that there is not enough money out there to do lots of things, and that is a very true issue because we can only go about with the money we receive from the levies we impose on landowners. Just recently, we had the opportunity to visit the North, and we went to places like Prominent Hill and Coober Pedy to look at the issues and the fauna around there. We also went to William Creek, where we had the opportunity to speak to the landowners in the stations to gather first-hand the issues and the challenges that are facing these areas out there.

The member for Ashford, our presiding member, has indicated that the capping of the bores up there has now resulted in lots of the natural streams or springs coming back into existence. This is where we rely on the people working for the boards up there for their local knowledge. We were driving along and suddenly we would see mountains or great large hills and they would say, 'We are going to stop here,' and when we had a walk and on top of these large mounds we found these natural springs coming up into the environment.

I think that is something we need to bring back into existence. In the days when I used to travel those areas as a manager for BP Australia, the bores were running untapped and you would see massive amounts of water going to waste, and that does not help the artesian basin at all. We looked at Lake Eyre covering the whole area and saw all the rivers entering from Queensland. It was a massive sight and very impressive to see it firsthand. I will not say who had a little bit of air sickness on the planes, but we certainly appreciated that view.

We also have to look at the funding up there. Some of the staff are so dedicated that, during their annual leave, they assist other government agencies to do the work. This is what they do with their annual leave, and people do not realise this. They do not get paid for this extra work and, while they are assisting their fellow colleagues in other government agencies, it also saves money for the government and gets more work done. That is something this state needs to take on board.

The other issue is that, because the boards are trying to keep down their costs, some people are utilising their houses as offices, and that is something we need to take up. We need to make certain that these people have a decent office with facilities and not have to use their lounge room or kitchen table for their operation.

I find this committee very informative and challenging, and I think it is a very important committee. In my role as the member for Frome, I go to all the regional NRM meetings in my electorate on a regular basis. The reason I do that is to get firsthand knowledge of the issues facing each of the NRM boards. The discussion that comes out of that is intriguing, and you understand exactly where the boards are going and how they are operating.

I would also like to voice my concerns about local governments having to collect the levies. I think that is something this state needs to look at because, as the member for Stuart has indicated, those councils need to justify it to their ratepayers, and it is also another impost on local government to collect it and distribute it to the state government. I will close there. I am very appreciative of the opportunity of being on this committee, because I think it is great, and I commend these reports to parliament.

Motion carried.