Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ARID LANDS NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT BOARD REGION FACT FINDING VISIT

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:02): I move:

That the 48^th report of the committee, on the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Region Fact Finding Visit, be noted.

Every year the Natural Resources Committee aims to visit at least two of the Natural Resources Management Board regions to meet with board members and staff, as well as members of the local NRM groups and, obviously, the community in those particular areas.

In November last year the committee spent three days in the Far North of the state as guests of the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. Our hosts, who included former presiding member Chris Reed, former general manager John Gavin, NRM officer Janet Walton, fauna recovery officer Reece Pedler and GAB chief investigator and mound springs expert Travis Gotch, provided us with detailed, and, I have to say, highly stimulating information of the various stops on our tour.

Since our visit in November 2010, I am sorry to say that presiding member Chris Reed's tenure has expired and that general manager John Gavin has also left as a consequence of administrative changes associated with the board's integration into the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Both Chris Reed's and John Gavin's expertise and enthusiasm will no doubt be greatly missed by the Arid Lands NRM Board and, I am sure, the local community.

Members may recall that I first spoke about this visit to the Arid Lands NRM region late last year when tabling the annual NRM levy reports for the boards. I referred particularly to the dedication of the NRM board's staff and their work and the sometimes harsh conditions they regularly endure in order to do their jobs.

Retaining valuable staff in remote regions of the state is always a great challenge. While staff employed in remote localities do not expect the same facilities that are available in the city, it is still important that they are provided with basic employment conditions and support to enable them to undertake their roles effectively with a minimum of personal hardship. Committee members agreed unanimously to take an ongoing and active interest in the employment conditions for the remote region NRM staff, especially in light of the integration process with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The committee recently obtained a briefing on the integration process from DENR Chief Executive, Allan Holmes. Committee members broadly support the changes as outlined by Mr Holmes on the proviso that they will maintain the strong NRM focus, efficiencies and critical onground works of the NRM boards and facilitate improved employment conditions and opportunities for staff. I should say, as an ex-trade union official and a very proud trade union member, that I consider this to be extremely important, but this is the philosophy of the whole of our committee.

Some concerns remain that the new NRM board regional manager roles that have replaced the general manager roles in the regions may at times prove difficult to reconcile given the added complication of having two masters—a presiding member and a chief executive of DENR—whereas the previous role was more independent. Members of the Natural Resources Committee look forward to seeing how these challenges will be managed.

On our first day in the region, the committee visited Prominent Hill mine, south-east of Coober Pedy, where our hosts OZ Minerals provided us with a tour of the mine and a detailed briefing. Prominent Hill is a new copper, gold and silver mine. Unsurprisingly, water is a major issue. As a condition of its water licence, OZ Minerals monitors its impact on the Great Artesian Basin and, while Prominent Hill complies with its licence conditions, concerns were raised about the long-term upwards trend for Great Artesian Basin water use and the potential for negative effects on the mound springs in light of the additional mines proposed for that region.

On day two of our visit, the committee was very fortunate to be given a slightly bumpy but nonetheless spectacular aerial view of the recently filled Lake Eyre and surrounds, with radio commentary from the arid lands board staff. This was a very important moment for us. Members were able to see firsthand the dramatic transformation of this normally dry region resulting from recent rains and surface flows. In addition to the filling of Lake Eyre and the stunning greening up of the region, an increase in feral animals such as camels, donkeys, horses and pigs was also apparent. This demonstrated well the double-edged sword and the challenges that favourable conditions bring to the region.

Members heard that feral cats also remain a major threat to wildlife, and that rabbits are making a comeback as the calicivirus is losing its effectiveness. Highly mobile feral animals such as camels, horses and donkeys present an enormous challenge to the NRM board and to pastoralists. Members will be aware of the recent federal government move to price carbon as a prelude to a carbon trading scheme. The committee heard that it may be desirable to provide offsets or carbon credits to landholders for the removal of camels, horses and donkeys in the same way that offsets are being considered for agricultural practices.

This kind of innovation could be useful because, to date, the national feral camel removal project is barely keeping pace with the breeding rate and, when the drought conditions return, the animals will once again become a major threat to the outback ecology and pastoral infrastructure.

Committee members were impressed by the Arid Lands NRM Board's dingo research and management projects. These projects have attracted funding support from the sheep industry as well as mining companies. Dingoes are unique in that they are both a pest (mainly south of the dog fence) and a benefit (mainly north of the fence). Dingo management is a prime example of how NRM boards, land managers and residents can work together to their mutual benefit. The arid lands board is training local people to work as doggers to help maintain the dog fence and manage dingo numbers where they are a threat to livestock.

Research is also being undertaken at the Arid Recovery Project near Roxby Downs into the potential benefit of dingoes in keeping down fox and feral cat numbers, thereby reducing the extinction rate of native animals.

Finally, I would like to mention the issue of outback roads. Madam Chair, I know this is an issue that you are also very interested in. The committee heard from local residents about the challenges of outback roads and the need for improved road maintenance techniques. The Arid Lands Board has been working closely with local landholders to build up expertise in road grading and to improve the long-term condition of outback roads.

The committee recently met with both the Minister for Environment and Conservation and the Minister for Transport to discuss these issues. I should say that our committee has decided that, in addition to the recommendations we make, we try, wherever possible, to follow up portfolio issues with the relevant minister. So, this is a bit of a difference I think our committee has maintained but one I am very pleased about, and I know the committee members are pleased that we have an action element to our investigations.

With the exception of designated highways, outback roads passing through pastoral lease land fall under the responsibility of the Pastoral Board. High visitation rates, compounded with prolonged and repeated wet weather in the region, have caused more damage than usual to these routes, and there are insufficient resources to maintain them properly. The committee has recommended a new strategy to ensure that public access routes are better funded, either through responsibility being handed back to the department of transport, or through funding for pastoralists to undertake maintenance and repair. There is also potential for mining companies to become more involved.

I would like to commend the members of our committee, the Hon. Geoff Brock MP, Mrs Robyn 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. Finally, I thank the fantastic staff that we have supporting our committee. I commend this report to the house.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:12): It is a pleasure to speak after the member for Ashford on this report. We did have a very enjoyable and, more importantly, very productive trip to outback South Australia. Madam Speaker, I know it is an area that you support to the best of your ability as well. It is an area I am particularly proud of. An enormous part of the area we visited is within the electorate of Stuart, and the other parts are also areas I am very familiar with and very proud of, from my own previous business life.

The Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board, which conducted the tour, really does need to be thanked. The presiding member at the time, Chris Reed, and the CEO at the time, John Gavin, put a lot of work and effort into really showing us as much as they possibly could of their area in the time that was available, as did their staff. Three of their key staff, Mr Reece Pedler, Ms Janet Walton and Mr Travis Gotch, also put a lot of time and effort into showing us what they could of their area. All of those people are experts, so we were very, very fortunate to get information directly from them, on the ground so to speak, and once even in the air.

The members of the Natural Resources Committee take the work quite seriously, and they all work in very genuine bipartisan fashion. As far as I can tell, this committee works probably better than most with regard to really doing the very, very best they can in relation to the topic they are considering at the time.

I would like to pull just a few things out of the key findings and recommendations and just make a couple of comments. Obviously, I will not go through the lot, but I will refer to some areas that are of particular importance to my mind and to the electorate of Stuart. Recommendation No. 1 is with regard to staff funding, and it recommends, as follows:

...staff funding and contractual arrangements need to be revisited by DENR to provide greater security of tenure, together with improved working and accommodation conditions, to ensure that outback and remote boards can attract and maintain the best staff and make the best use of those people employed.

Unlike the member for Ashford, I have never been a union organiser, and I know I never will be. However, I do consider the issue with regard to this part of South Australia as just as important as she does. It is not feasible for this board to try to attract the very best people to do the best work they can when they do not have secure employment. Every year that goes by, there are more and more other employment opportunities for these people, typically in the mining industry. I think we need to enable natural resources management boards to compete with other potential employers so that they are able to keep the best employees possible.

The second recommendation that I would like to highlight is actually the second recommendation of the report regarding outback roads. People in this place know how strongly I feel about the value of outback roads, and I spoke about them again yesterday. It was clear to all members of the committee who took the trip that work needs to be done in a completely non-political way. I think every member of parliament who visited, regardless of their own personal affiliation or background, came away knowing that not enough resources go into this very important issue in South Australia, particularly outback South Australia.

Another fact that came to light—and I certainly was not aware of this at the time—is that uranium is actually mined at Prominent Hill. I think it is important to highlight that. Most South Australians would not know that Prominent Hill is technically a uranium mine, certainly by the standards of other mines, a very small one. Uranium is taken out of the ground at Prominent Hill and then sent to Olympic Dam for processing. I have no problem with that whatsoever, but I think it is important to put on the record that that is an important fact for the people of South Australia to know. I think uranium mining should be supported. It is an incredibly important part of our economy and, hopefully, it will be a more important part of the economy in years to come.

Water, as we all know—whether it comes from the River Murray or out of the ground—is a critical issue, probably the most important issue that we face in South Australia. Interestingly enough, in the comments and recommendations section of the report, No. 5 highlights:

Demand for water from the Great Artesian Basin...is rapidly increasing due to expansion in the mining and exploration industries. Development projections indicate the GAB will account for 10 per cent of all water use in South Australia by 2016—

which, as we know, is not very far away—

Current board projects indicate the resource is in decline over the long term; with recharge lower than discharge. The resource needs protection for users including the environment.

So, all users being pastoralists, the mining industry and certainly the environment. That is a vitally important issue for South Australia, and it is highlighted in this report. This report also seeks the South Australian government to commit further funding to this issue so that our state is able to access commonwealth funding to work on the project.

With regard to feral animals, certainly people in this house have heard me talk about dingoes a lot, and I appreciate the fact that the member for Ashford (the chair of the committee) commented on this just a little while ago. The report talks about the great difficulties associated with finding a commercial way of harvesting feral camels. There is a project planned, or proposed, for near Port Pirie, and I certainly hope that gets off the ground. It will be a difficult issue because, as everybody would understand, it is very hard to transport camels probably in excess of 1,000 kilometres to market when all you really want is the meat or the other products that you can use for other reasons. I certainly hope that project near Port Pirie is able to go ahead, because feral animals in our area are an incredibly important thing.

The importance of dealing with feral animals is heightened at the moment because of the tremendous season we have had probably for the last 18 months and the fact that high rainfalls have been positive for anything that is trying to grow; it does not matter whether it is a crop in the South-East of South Australia or whether it is a cane toad trying to work its way down into our state from Queensland. All living organisms really have benefited from the rain, including feral animals, so we need to be particularly vigilant, because ferals will explode.

Coupled with that is the fact that a lot of the programs trying to address the problems of feral animals have been really hamstrung, and people may be aware that there is a program worth $19 million to deal with feral camels at the moment. They have actually had to stop their work recently because they cannot physically get to the areas that they need to, and that is true of all areas in the north of the state. This report highlights the importance of getting into the areas that are currently inaccessible because of water as soon as they are accessible to deal with the explosion in ferals—ferals being animals and weeds—because they are both causing great difficulty for our state at the moment.

These are the items out of this report that I chose to highlight. There are some other very important findings and recommendations as well. Again, I thank the people from the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board who conducted the tour and led us through their part of the state, and I compliment all members of the committee, who work very well together to deal with the issues that our committee chooses to look into; and particularly our chair, who leads us very well. The people on this committee do a good job working together on these issues.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (11:21): It is a great privilege to be able to follow the member for Ashford, who is a great chair of our committee, and also the member for Stuart, who is right—member for Ashford, you do lead it very well. The 48^th report indicated that this committee had a tour of the north of South Australia. We visited Prominent Hill, which gave us a better overview of what is happening up there. As the member for Stuart has indicated, it is a little known fact that uranium is mined at that mine and I have no issues with that either.

We also had the opportunity to visit Coober Pedy, and it gave us an opportunity not only to talk to some of the locals but also to talk to the council and to understand the pressure they are under, especially with the power supply up there, which is run by the local council. That is something that we all take for granted down here, but it is definitely a big issue up there, as with the water.

We also had the opportunity to visit William Creek and talk to some of the landowners there, the pastoralists, and to understand more about the issues that are confronting those people. At the same time, we did have the great opportunity of going in three small aircraft to have a look at the lake system up there, Lake Eyre, etc., and to get a better understanding of where the rivers are coming in and the feeding into that from Queensland in particular.

As the member for Stuart indicated, I am also going to touch on a few of the findings and recommendations from this report. One of the things that concerns me is the NRM boards. The staff members up there are very, very good. That does not concern me. They have a lot of knowledge and the experience to be able to guide the parliament going through, but those staff need to have improved conditions. They need to have better security for their tenure; there were a couple of occasions when they were not too sure whether they were going to have a job within two months. So, the staff themselves need to have better security, greater direction going forward for their own commitment.

The member for Stuart also touched on the water issue. We talk about water in South Australia and we worry about it in Adelaide in particular. You have some reservoirs here, but the outback of South Australia is 100 per cent reliant on the River Murray, and from the Great Artesian Basin in the north there they do not have opportunities for the River Murray water. They have to take it out of the Great Artesian Basin. As the member for Stuart has indicated, the draining of that extraction is greater than that going into the basin, so we as a state need to look at alternative or extra water coming in so we do not do any more damage to the Great Artesian Basin. The resource opportunity for South Australia is all in that area, and without security of water and power those conditions will not improve or go forward.

As to the outback roads, whilst there are thousands of kilometres of road system up there, I would suggest (and it is one of the reports) DTEI needs to meet with the South Australian Arid Lands NRM boards up there and also the pastoralists. These are the people who have firsthand knowledge of the condition of the roads and who understand far better how we can maintain those roads to a higher standard.

We also understand that, no matter who is in government, we need to control our expenditure. However, at the same time, those roads up there are the lifeline of not only tourists but also pastoralists. There are times that these people cannot get their product or their stock down to market. When they cannot get their stock down to market, they do not have any finances to continue operating their facilities.

The member for Stuart has also referred to the feral animals in that region. The feral animals up there include camels. Camels are great and are a beautiful animal, but they do a lot of damage up there. As the member for Stuart has indicated, I also hope that the export camel abattoir, which will also process animals other than camels, is established at Port Pirie. It will not only assist with the economic development of that region but it will also rid us of some of the feral camels that are in the outback.

Foxes are another issue that was highlighted up there. Again, we need to control those, because they are also doing damage to the natural resource. The dingo fence, which is a very large fence up there, should keep all of the dingoes away from the stock down in the south. There was talk about there being evidence of dingoes south of the dingo fence. That is another issue because, whilst the dingoes are okay and are a great animal, they do lots of damage to sheep and the environment.

The member for Stuart has indicated that this is one of the best committees in the parliament. I will go one further: I say it is the best working committee in the parliament. The membership of this committee is widespread, and it has bipartisan support. There is great support, great indications and great discussions within this committee. I am very proud to be part of the Natural Resources Committee of the parliament and am looking forward to more trips away. Whilst people might say we should not go away because it costs money, the only way we can find out what the issues are—whether in the outback, the Riverland or wherever—is to touch that firsthand in order to get a better understanding. I certainly have great pleasure in commending this report to the house.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:27): On behalf of the committee, I thank the members for Frome and Stuart for their contributions. I know that the comments they have made are felt very strongly by the other members of the committee. I commend the committee's report to the house.

Motion carried.