Natural Resources Committee: Annual Report 2015-16

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:23): I move:

That the 118^th report of the committee, entitled Annual Report July 2015-June 2016, be noted.

The year 2015-16 has been another busy year for the Natural Resources Committee. The membership of the committee is similar to that of the previous year. All members of the First Session of the Fifty-Third Parliament continued into the second session. Mr Chris Picton, the member for Kaurna, resigned on 8 February 2016 to take up a role as assistant minister/parliamentary secretary to the Treasurer, and the vacancy was filled temporarily by the member for Elder, Mrs Annabel Digance, on 9 February 2016. The member for Elder subsequently resigned her membership on 7 June 2016 after being appointed to the Joint Committee on Findings of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission.

As at the end of the reporting period the vacancy remains unfilled, so that has provided some challenges in making sure that we have a quorum for meetings and also for any of the field trips that we want to undertake and need to undertake as the Natural Resources Committee. The committee staff, fortunately, have remained unchanged since the previous reporting period with research officer, Ms Barbara Coddington, and executive officer, Mr Patrick Dupont, continuing their excellent support of our committee.

Over the reporting period, the committee undertook 28 formal meetings, totalling 64 hours and 50 minutes, and took evidence from 64 witnesses. We had 10 reports tabled, including the Inquiry into Unconventional Gas (Fracking) Interim Report. We thought it was very important to have that interim report because we had had so many submissions and so many people talking to us about the prospect of unconventional gas (fracking) in the South-East.

We tabled the annual report from the year before, 2014-15, and the regional report that we had for March 2014 because, with the directive and also the feeling of our committee, it was important to make sure that we reported to the parliament on a regional basis as well as on what we were required to do through the committee's terms of reference. We also tabled seven reports on the natural resources management levy proposals for 2016-17.

Deputy Speaker, you can understand that this is a lot of work, and I really commend the members for their endurance in getting through it all, but I also particularly want to commend the staff, including our research officer, Barbara Coddington, for dealing with all of this work in the way that she has. She is a reasonably new research officer, and we were very pleased that she was able to do all of this work in such a short period of time after starting with us.

We also had meetings with the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. We had meetings with the Clerk, Mr Rick Crump, and also with the Deputy Clerk, Mr David Pegram. These were meetings that we had without Hansard to try to deal with some of the matters that were before us and be as efficient as possible in the work that we do.

The committee has annual statutory responsibilities to consider natural resources management levy proposals. In this reporting period, many of the proposed NRM levy increases were greater than in previous years resulting in an increased number of witnesses raising concerns with the committee. Twenty-six witnesses presented on levies, including members in this house. I thank the members for MacKillop, Hammond, Chaffey, Finniss and Bragg. Former premier the Hon. Rob Kerin also made a submission to the Natural Resources Committee. The committee takes its NRM levy oversight responsibilities very seriously, and NRC members spent considerable time deliberating on how best to respond to the concerns raised regarding the proposed levy increases.

The committee also endeavours to visit all eight NRM regions over the course of its four-year parliamentary term in order to meet with NRM managers and community members and to observe firsthand the work done by regional NRM boards and the staff of the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. During the reporting period, the committee visited the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges (AMLR) and the Northern and Yorke (N&Y) NRM regions as part of its Pinery fireground fact-finding visit. Members also undertook a four-day extended visit to the AW NRM region. In addition to attending to its statutory responsibilities, the committee generally aims to undertake one or more inquiries.

For the 2015-16 period, the committee continued its inquiry into unconventional gas fracking, hearing from 32 witnesses, plus making fact-finding visits to Roma, Dalby and Chinchilla, in Queensland, talking to community members, councils and other people, as well as Robe in the South-East and Moomba in the Cooper Basin.

The committee also continued to gather evidence for its sustainable fishery management inquiry. We have had four witnesses so far, but I think this may be an ongoing inquiry as it is a very big issue. I want to acknowledge the support we have received from the Minister for Fisheries and his staff in trying to grapple with the very difficult issues that are concerned with sustainable fishery management.

We also received briefings from Biosecurity SA, in particular regarding South Australia's infestation of Russian wheat aphids. This is of particular interest to the Deputy Speaker, who has raised concerns about this issue in this place with the minister and certainly with me, so I am sure she will be pleased to know that we had at least two witnesses on this matter.

This reporting period also saw the Natural Resources Committee piloting the use of videoconferencing for its hearings. A total of six witnesses gave evidence to the committee via Skype. One witness was heard via teleconference and the remaining 57 witnesses presented to the committee in person. Having access to videoconference technology for interstate and overseas witnesses has been an excellent way to increase the range of expertise available to the committee in undertaking its inquiries.

I would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of the committee members during 2016. I thank them for the cooperative manner in which they worked together. I have to say that I look forward to continuing in the coming reporting year. I would particularly like to commend the member for Napier, the member for Elder, the member for Flinders, the Hon. Robert Brokenshire, the Hon. John Dawkins and the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars for their contributions throughout the year. I would also finally like to thank the parliamentary staff: Mr Patrick Dupont, our executive officer, and Ms Barbara Coddington, our research officer. I commend this report to the house.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (11:32): I speak today to the 2015-16 annual report of the Natural Resources Committee of the parliament. It is the 118^th report of this committee. I would like to thank my fellow committee members for the way in which we were able to go about our work, and also the Presiding Member, the member for Ashford, for the way in which she chaired the committee in such a professional manner. I would also like to thank two staff, Patrick Dupont and Barbara Coddington, who so ably fulfilled their duties and made our task so much easier.

It is a busy committee, as members have just heard from the member for Ashford. Without a doubt, the inquiry into unconventional gas (fracking), has dominated our workload in this past year, and it continues on. We are certainly hoping to have a final report tabled sometime soon but, having said that, we did table an interim report earlier this year because of the volume of work we had already done and the number of submissions we had already received. That work continues. As I said, we have had a large number of witnesses. We have had visits to the South-East. Ultimately, we will be tabling a final report quite soon.

We also instigated an inquiry into aquaculture, which is particularly important in the electorate of Flinders. The particular reference of that inquiry relates to the environmental issues and concerns around the ecological sustainability of the industry which is at the core of all our primary production issues.

The Presiding Member indicated that we are developing an inquiry into marine scale fishery. It may broaden from that, but the challenges to that sector from an environmental, economic and sustainability perspective certainly need considering by the Natural Resources Committee, and I think would be welcomed by those who are involved in the sector. There is an opportunity for us to hear submissions and make some comments about how that might progress.

The Presiding Member mentioned some fact-finding missions we undertook through the year. As part of the fracking inquiry, we visited the Surat Basin in Queensland, where fracking has been occurring for some years now. The development of the fracking industry had been completed, much of the infrastructure had been established and they had moved to the production phase, which meant that fewer people were involved. We were able to see firsthand the impacts on the landscape, on the local population and on the towns themselves that have been required to provide services. There was a significant increase in services quite quickly in some instances. They then had to manage the resultant removal of population as the infrastructure build was completed.

The South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM region was visited in September 2015. I was not able to join the group on that expedition, but the report on this very important part of the state was significant. We also visited the Pinery fireground and the AW NRM Board region, which I spoke about earlier this morning. I did not quite finish my contribution on that matter so, with regard to that, I thank once again the committee and the staff.

I thank all the DEWNR NRM board staff in this state who welcomed us to their regions. including the presiding members and the board members. They are always very welcoming, very accommodating and only too pleased to share with us, as a committee of the parliament and as MPs, the work they are doing in their regions.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:37): I rise to speak to the 118^th report of the Natural Resources Committee, entitled Annual Report July 2015-June 2016. Generally, I think the Natural Resources Committee is one of the best committees in this place. I have never officially been on the committee, but I have always been welcomed along on trips. I salute the Presiding Member, the member for Ashford. It is a good, welcoming committee for other members to make their points and to be part of fact-finding visits.

One of the visits outlined in this annual report is the Pinery fire visit. The Pinery fire was an absolute act of devastation. It is pleasing to see that, bar hail damage and frost, things have improved markedly in the last cropping season for those people. We went to Pinery and viewed the damage, especially on some of the sandy ground towards Mallala, where some of the guys on the heavier ground were cultivating strips to try to stop the drift, and we really could not do anything but watch it blow, and it was devastating.

It reminded me of the bad old days in the Mallee where there is an old saying, 'No blow, no grow'. They would work the ground about a dozen times or more and tractors and sets of harrows were enveloped in dust, and it was not a good look and it is not a good look. We have had vicious winds and bad dust storms this season, but they are nothing compared with what we used to have in the old days, especially in the early growing stages of a crop, when the whole sky was blocked out. However, farming practices now are far better, not just for the farmers but for the environment and everyone concerned.

I presented to the committee on natural resources management (NRM) levies. Regarding natural resources management, my wife is an environmental scientist and, although she does not work in that field anymore, she did help set up the NRM, especially in the Murray-Darling area. She can speak for herself, but I know that she is frustrated with where things have gone.

I am frustrated with where things have gone in relation to natural resources management, as is the community, especially in relation to DEWNR making it a subsidiary—and not even a subsidiary. It has become a part of DEWNR (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources) so, essentially, any independence we thought might have been there has long gone. They are under the command and control of the minister down, and I certainly noticed that with the issue of the New Zealand fur seals, apart from other matters.

People are frustrated, and I think the frustration is mainly with the legislation around what has to happen under the act in relation to the renewal of reports. I believe—and I have seen it from the inside and I still hear about it—that there is far too much time spent renewing three yearly or five-yearly reports, and once that is done you do the next lot.

There are some great individual projects that get done on ground, I must say, but they are few and far between, and not enough money is reaching on ground. Far too much goes into the bureaucracy that just cuts down trees to print books, which I find offensive, and we are not getting the weed management and we are not getting the pest management that we used to have. Things definitely need to change.

The populace have switched off out there, especially in the farming areas. They do their own thing, and I have mentioned in this place before the matter of corella management. I know it is not an issue for the natural resources management board: it is a council issue. Then it becomes an issue of, 'Will council do it?' And then the police get involved because not all councils are as courageous as the Coorong council, which has a very good relocation policy around corellas, and some of them get relocated to a better place.

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Yes, some go to a worse place: corella hell. If you are proactive and do things under the right guidelines, you can get some decent management. There has recently been some media around Mannum and what they are going to do about their corella issue. They have a hot-rod show there, and people are now refusing to bring their cars along because of the damage inflicted by the birds.

There has been damage throughout Murray Bridge, especially in the Riverglades area, and the Alexandrina Council area—whether it's through Strathalbyn, Langhorne Creek, heading down towards Goolwa—and people need to work with the authorities. It disappoints me that the NRM does not want anything to do with it. It is a sensitive issue. I know the police in Murray Bridge certainly do not want a relocation program like the Coorong council has implemented, but there has to be a way to protect not just people's homes, livelihood and belongings but also the environment where the trees just get butchered.

In relation to what was put to the NRM Board, especially in the Murray-Darling Basin section, there was a proposed 10 per cent increase in the water levy, the division 2 levy, which went through, and a 150 per cent increase in the land levy, the division 1 levy, which went through. This is some of the angst that comes back to us as members of parliament as these levies are put onto local government, on their rates bills, and then local government cop the flak as well and come to us complaining about this impost that they have to deal with.

One that is a real angst is the base levy of $200, as a water levy. From what I have been told, this has been a 1,000 per cent increase on some people's base fee. I have had one very small cricket club write to me, and I have contacted the minister to see if we can get some relief. This is just the kind of bill where you might be only running one team, you might have a dozen or 15 players and a few supporters, and that is it. So, that small cricket club gets belted with this increase, and it has a huge impact, especially on people trying to access their regional sport. This is happening right across the state. It does not matter how big or small the sporting club is, but it obviously impacts the ones that have a smaller population using their facilities.

These imposts have been put in right across the state. One of the things that is most galling is that it is blatantly paying for DEWNR staff wages; something like 22 per cent of DEWNR wages come out of the levy instead of coming out of general revenue. That is totally wrong, in my opinion, and we see it in a whole range of fields now. Whether it is management fees around DPTI (Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure), or whether it is in the agriculture department managing concessional loans, millions are taken out just in bureaucracy, and we see it again here with these things that, in my mind, should be funded out of general revenue so that more money can hit the ground.

I note the report. I note that there are many inquiries that the Natural Resources Committee has undertaken. I believe we are not far off an outcome in regard to the fracking inquiry in the South-East. I acknowledge the committee receiving, on my request, a submission by Skype from Jeff Heller, who heads up a group of over 100 farmers in New York state who were very keen to access fracking in their country but who were denied because of a ban. I note that they have a different royalty system over there and that they are totally reliant on groundwater. I acknowledge and thank the committee for hearing his evidence. I think the use of technology for all committees is an excellent way to get information from right across the world. I endorse the report.

Motion carried.