NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: ANNUAL REPORT

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:08): I move:

That the 46^th report of the Natural Resources Committee, entitled Annual Report 2009-10, be noted.

It is with great pleasure that I move this motion on behalf of the Natural Resources Committee. Madam Speaker, as you probably know, in the years 2009-10, the new committee was appointed after the March state election and, as well, the membership was expanded from seven to nine members. Two members from the previous committee (the Hon. Russell Wortley MLC and I) have, we hope, provided some continuity of service to the committee in this new parliament.

There was a period of reduced committee activity leading up to and following the election, as well as the retirement of our executive officer, Knut Cudarans, in May 2010. A consequent recruitment process has resulted probably in some cases for the better for this house, but fewer reports are being published than have been in recent years. This hiatus is an unavoidable function of the four-year election cycle compounded by staff turnover. Obviously elections are a necessary evil, so we had to endure that, but I am very pleased to say, having spent four years on the Natural Resources Committee, that I was delighted to be appointed in this place as the chairperson.

Mr Venning: And a good choice, too.

The Hon. S.W. KEY: Thank you very much, member for Schubert—I only wish you were on the committee. In the reporting period of the Natural Resources Committee, we undertook 13 formal meetings, totalling 21 hours, and we took evidence from 34 witnesses. Six reports were drafted and tabled in the reporting period. These were: an annual report describing the 2008-09 reporting period; three reports into the Natural Resources Management levy proposals; a bushfire inquiry interim report; and a report into the Upper South-East Dryland Salinity and Flood Management Act.

We undertook four fact-finding tours in the 2009-10 financial period. Over six days, the committee visited the South-East, Kangaroo Island, Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources Management regions and met with the Natural Resources Management board members, staff and landholders. We also met with people who were interested in talking to us about natural resources. So, I think that we could throw a few 'greenies' into those consultations.

In addition, members completed their inquiry into the Murray-Darling Basin with a tour of New South Wales and Victorian basin catchments, taking in the Barmah Choke and Barmah Forest, the Hume Dam, the Snowy Hydro Scheme and Shepparton in November 2009. I am very pleased to say—and this is something that I really do want to encourage—that a number of non-committee members of the parliament joined the committee on three of our tours (at their own expense) where they had a particular interest.

For example, Mr Michael Pengilly, MP, the member for Finniss, joined the committee on its visit to Kangaroo Island, which, obviously, is part of his electorate. The former member for Norwood, Ms Vini Ciccarello, came on the Kangaroo Island and the South-East tours, while Mrs Robyn Geraghty, the member for Torrens, joined the Kangaroo Island, South-East and Murray-Darling Basin tours.

The committee continues to encourage non-members to attend the committee hearings to observe witnesses present, as well as to attend fact-finding tours that relate to their interests and electorates. We would be particularly pleased to ask whether our previous chair, the Hon. John Rau, can join us on some of our tours in the future, maybe in his capacity as the Minister for Tourism.

The Hon. M.J. Wright interjecting:

The Hon. S.W. KEY: And I can see that the Hon. Michael Wright might also want to join us on some of our trips. We really do encourage members on both sides of the house, and in the middle, to be a part of our tours.

As in past years, the committee has chosen to engage with communities in their regions. A full list of meetings and fact-finding tours can be found in the text of this report. Copies of all the committee's reports, Hansard transcripts and presentations are readily available on the committee's website so that people who have an interest in our area—the very important natural resource area—can access that information.

I acknowledge the valuable contribution of committee members who left us last year. I have already mentioned the former presiding member, the Hon. John Rau. I also acknowledge the Hon. Graham Gunn, the previous member for Stuart, the Hon. Caroline Schaefer MLC, the Hon. Lea Stevens, the previous member for Little Para, and the Hon. David Winderlich, who replaced the Hon. Sandra Kanck in the Legislative Council. I would really like to thank all those people. We miss you, but we do have some new blood, and we are having an equally important and, I think, enjoyable time on our committee.

I would particularly like to emphasise (and this is something that has carried through to our new committee) the cooperative manner in which everyone worked together. Although we came from different places politically, particularly on the old committee (but, I guess, that signature is in our new committee as well), people did work together and cooperated.

Also, I would particularly like to thank the committee staff for their support. We were very lucky to have our previous executive officer, Knut Cudarans, as I mentioned earlier, who retired. We are very lucky now to have Patrick Dupont as our secretary and David Trebilcock, a new addition, as our research officer. So I am expecting that the exceptionally high level of service and expertise that we had in the previous committee will carry over into the new committee. I commend this report to the house.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:15): I am not on that committee, but I would like to support the remarks made by the member for Ashford. Since I have been in this place, my experience has been that it is one of the best committees of the parliament, and I do not think there should be any inhibition on the amount of money it requires for its members to get out and do what they are doing. In the past, under the previous chairmanship of the Deputy Premier, the committee went out and about and did a lot of good work, and I know that the former member the Hon. Graham Gunn was a strong advocate for chasing up things that affected country people.

My view is that this committee ought to grab things by the scruff of the neck in a bipartisan manner. At the moment there is a matter 'floating' around, so to speak, which I think could be well looked at and hammered away at, and I would be quite happy to talk to the member for Ashford and other committee members about that. However, it is a very good committee. It meets regularly, it does good work, and its reports are always well put together. I commend the member for Ashford in her role as presiding member, and wish the committee all the best. I look forward to its next report, and I also look forward to the committee investigating a matter that I believe needs investigation.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:16): I rise to support the member for Ashford in presenting the 2009-10 report to the house. As a brand-new member of the committee this year, after the last election, obviously I did not have an enormous contribution to the work that went into the report because, as the member for Ashford mentioned, the election came along. From memory, our first meeting for that year was mid-to-late May and, given that this report runs to the end of June, it is hard for me to comment.

However, I have had extensive discussions with my predecessor, the former member for Stuart the Hon. Graham Gunn, who was a member of that committee, and I can say that he was very satisfied that the work that went into that was well placed and well researched, and a lot of effort and time was spent on it. Importantly, a very good bipartisan working relationship was in place then, as it is now under our current chair.

The committee has four Labor members, two Liberal members, two Independent members and one Family First member these days, and I know that every one of those individuals comes to work on this committee in a genuinely bipartisan way. Given that I am talking about the transition that took place during the end of the last financial year, it is probably worth adding my thanks to Patrick Dupont, who was a research officer and then acting executive officer, who then became the executive officer. That transition, through the time of the election and from one committee to another, certainly would not have been nearly as smooth without his support and efforts. With those words I, too, commend the report to the house.

Motion carried.