Parliamentary Committees

Natural Resources Committee: Levy Proposals 2017-18

Debate resumed.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:08): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I note your comments in relation to the guests. I had the opportunity to speak to them briefly before, so that was good.

I commend the member for Ashford for her role as Presiding Member of the Natural Resources Committee. I listened with interest to what she had to say here this morning, and I thank her for involving me at any time when there is a matter pertinent to my electorate. I pick up on the KI natural resources levy, which has been a subject of conjecture and some deal of concern for some time.

I have had discussions at length. I get on very well with my local NRM board, and I know Richard Trethewey very well. They do their best, according to the funding they get, but it brings up the wider issue of funding for NRMs around the state and why it is so ridiculously wrong that you have the Adelaide Hills board, which is flush with funds because they have the City of Adelaide to collect money from, and then you have these poor little country boards, such as Kangaroo Island, which are trying to scrape together a few dollars to do everything they can.

I have been of the view for some time that this whole thing needs flattening out so that the money is much more evenly distributed and that the smaller regional boards have the opportunity to do things without grovelling to the parliamentary committee to approve their rise. I should not say 'grovelling'; I should say 'pleading', which is probably better terminology, but I think you know what I mean. They should not have to do that.

By the same token, I think there are various programs that do need looking at (and I am referring holistically to all of them), but there are issues they do not need to be involved in as much as they are. The areas that need work should be funded, but others need their cloth cut accordingly. It was an interesting exercise, and I was very pleased that the committee came over and looked at the proposed Smith Bay port site, which I think is an arrant disaster. I am absolutely, totally and adamantly opposed to a port on that site. As the committee knows, it is just ridiculous, and I will have more to say about that later. In the meantime, I thank the member for her comments and commend the report.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:11): I rise to make a quick contribution on these three reports in regard to the natural resources management levy proposal, including Arid Lands, Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island.

Every year, we seem to have rises in natural resources levies, and I note the reasons given for the 118 per cent increase in the Kangaroo Island levy, from $36 per rateable property to $79. When I first saw the 118 per cent figure, I just about fell out of my chair, but as it was such a modest start rate perhaps it is not so bad. I certainly have a lot of respect for Richard Trethewey, who has been mentioned here, and his comments. He has put a good case for why that levy should rise. He spoke about weed and feral pest management. Let's hope that is where the money is spent appropriately because what has always confounded me, and I have said it in this place many times, is the amount of money spent on administration in natural resources management.

I will put on the record again that my wife help set this up years ago. She is an environmental scientist and she was involved in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The frustration is because of the legislation, which needs major reform. There are many plans that need five-yearly reviews and three-yearly reviews, and my concern has always been that so much time, effort and revenue are spent reviewing these plans that people are frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of effort out on the ground.

In regard to pest management, or management of corellas, for instance, it is interesting when natural resources management decides, 'No, we don't do anything with that. We will leave that up to councils.' Corellas are one of those things that a lot of councils have trodden carefully about. When you look at the other side of the issue, corellas are causing massive environmental damage, especially along the coastline, around Strathalbyn and in my electorate of Murray Bridge, yet NRM boards say that it is not their responsibility. I am a bit dumbfounded by that because I would have thought that that is the exact thing that should be managed.

Yes, it is a difficult issue, but some councils, like the Coorong council, have a relocation program in place, and some of these corellas are permanently relocated to a better place, and it has been very successful. It just goes to show that if you have the desire you can do it. Not only is there damage to the natural habitat and trees and plants around the place but there is also the issue of tearing buildings apart. In regard to a building like the Coorong council's reasonably new offices, external wooden slats seem to be the trend now, and I have seen this on other buildings around the place, such as some education buildings. They are quite decorative, but they are a fair target for corellas.

Sometimes people need to have a good look at the bigger picture and what is happening and not see just one side of the argument because parts of the environment are being affected. It is a little bit like an overabundance of koalas on Kangaroo Island at times that tear through the habitat and gum trees and can have quite a detrimental effect. The agriculture minister mentioned fur seals, and that really needs be looked at into the future. I know there is a lot of timidity about New Zealand fur seals, but people really need to have a very good look at the issues and what else is being impacted, like pelicans, musk ducks and other species along the Coorong and Lower Lakes, and realise that it is not just a one-way discussion.

I am not a marine scientist, but I believe that some marine scientists, if they were able to speak freely, would certainly agree with me that they are having an impact on fish stocks. We see whiting breeding grounds under pressure, and we see that garfish have been fully fished now for several years, which means that, being fully fished, they are at their max. I think there needs to be a good assessment of what management protocols can be put in place. The one thing I wish is that natural resources management boards do just that—manage some of these natural resources.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (11:17): I rise today to speak on the 120^th to 122^nd reports of the Natural Resources Committee, relating to various natural resources management board levy proposals for 2017-18. I rise to speak on this as a member of the committee, a committee which I enjoy very much. We are the hardest working committee in this place without any doubt, and I see the member for Ashford is concurring with that. Of course, the committee is ably chaired by the member for Ashford. Members of the committee are the Hon. Rob Brokenshire, the Hon. Paul Caica, the Hon. John Dawkins, the Hon. John Gazzola, Mr Jon Gee and, as I said, the member for Ashford and myself.

We were considering the boards of Eyre Peninsula, the Arid Lands and Kangaroo Island. I guess one of the real pleasures for me being on this committee is that we actually go out and visit these areas. We have made a commitment to the parliament to visit each and every one of the natural resources management board areas within this state. We visited Eyre Peninsula recently, Kangaroo Island even more recently, and our plan is to get to the Arid Lands before the end of this year. I understand that plans are well in place for that.

I need to declare not an interest any longer but that I was a member of the original Eyre Peninsula NRM board. That was a role I greatly enjoyed. I only served one term because I got busy doing other things, and those other things led me to this place, so it was not fair that I retain my place on the board. I came to that through Landcare, the soil board and other such ventures.

The management of the environment remains very close to my heart. I think what we often forget, but I would remind people in this place, is that the vast majority of land management in this state is carried out by the owners and operators of the land, those farmers and pastoralists who actually make their living from the environment. The maintenance of a productive and sustainable environment is paramount to the ongoing success of their businesses.

The NRM Act states that a regional NRM board may amend a plan at any time but must review its business plan anytime it proposes an increase in its NRM levy or levies and at least once every three years. A couple of years ago, this caused much angst because, as a result of circumstance, which I think was probably very much a result of government policy and directives from Treasury, the NRM boards significantly increased their levies. Of course, the levy payers, the constituents within those areas, were required to pay that.

It was a time of some angst for our committee, but we got through it. Be that as it may, two years on the proposed increases are entirely within the regime that we would deem fair and reasonable. The South Australian Arid Lands NRM Board, having completed its 10-year review of the entire regional NRM plan, has proposed increases of 1.2 per cent to both the division 1 (land) and division 2 (water) levies for 2017-18.

As I mentioned, we plan to visit the Arid Lands later this year, and I am looking forward to it very much. I have not been to the far north-east of the state for any great period of time, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet with board members and also staff and landowners within that region. It covers an area of about 520,000 square kilometres, which is just over half the total land area of South Australia. It is more than twice the size of the state's next largest NRM board area, that of the AWNRM Board, some of which falls within the electorate of Flinders.

Only 2 per cent of the state's population lives in the Arid Lands region. The largest towns are Coober Pedy and Roxby Downs and the rest of the population is spread over about 20 towns. The region's water comes from mainly the Great Artesian Basin's groundwater system and also from infrequent rainfall events in a boom and bust environment.

My recollection is that last summer, the summer of 2016-17, there were quite good summer rains in that part of the state. I trust that the status of the natural environment is in good heart and also that there is plenty of feed for the pastoralists. We very recently visited the Kangaroo Island NRM Board. Amongst other things, we discovered a fellow who makes gin. Many of us brought a bottle home, and my son informed me that the gin produced on Kangaroo Island is in fact world famous.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: World famous?

Mr TRELOAR: World famous, not just famous in this state.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: So if I asked anybody in the world, they would know about it?

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: It has won international awards.

Mr TRELOAR: Indeed. Thank you.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: Old Tom was named best gin in Australia three years—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm worried that you know so much about it.

Mr TRELOAR: The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and Tourism is across the Kangaroo Island gin. Can you remember the name of it?

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: Kangaroo Island Spirits, Jon and Sarah Lark.

Mr TRELOAR: Of course, and they were wonderful hosts on the day, and I am pleased to say that the committee stocked up to the weight limit that Rex would allow. The Kangaroo Island NRM Board, having completed its 10-year review of the entire regional NRM plan, has proposed an increase of 118 per cent to the division 1 regional levy in 2017-18. In this case, it is a flat rate according to property ownership. The committee has heard that the NRM board considers this increase to be generally supported by the regional community.

I must make the point here that Kangaroo Island was beginning from a very low base. The moneys they raised from levies up until a couple of years ago were really quite small. They felt some consequence and responsibility, but they felt they could charge the levy payers more than they had in an effort to be able to better fund the board's works, and our committee agreed with that.

The Kangaroo Island region is one of South Australia's eight NRM regions established under the Natural Resources Management Act. Everyone knows Kangaroo Island well. It lies 15 kilometres from the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula off South Australia and covers just 4,370 square kilometres and has 457 kilometres of coastline. I must say, looking at the island just a few weeks ago from a farmer's eye, that it looked to be in very good heart. Once again, the natural environment is in very good shape. There is ongoing work with regard to feral pests, weeds and particularly animals. That takes up a big part of the board's time and farmers' time, I suggest. They are working on cats, deer, goats, pigs—

The Hon. S.W. Key interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: Goats are not; goats are sorted, but certainly the pigs are still a challenge, so they are doing good work. Last of all, under consideration today is the Eyre Peninsula NRM Board, of which I was a member and where I occasionally get to sit in the public gallery. The NRM board, having completed its tender review of the entire regional NRM plan, has proposed increases of 3 per cent to the division 1 and 2 levies over three years of its business plan. As with the others, in its meeting on Friday 19 May, the Natural Resources Committee resolved that it did not object to the board's levy proposals.

The Eyre Peninsula NRM Board covers an area I am very familiar with; I represent much of it in this place. I am a born and bred local and spent 35 years farming there. As I said, I was very active with Landcare, the local soil board and, ultimately, the very first of the NRM boards. It is a huge area that covers around 80,000 square kilometres, including Whyalla, which is not in my electorate but is a near neighbour. It includes 2,355 kilometres of coastline and 182 islands. People often forget the extent of the coastline and the pristine nature of the coastline in the west of the state.

It is the meeting point of two continental ecosystems, creating unique biodiversity. Just over half the region is farmed, with about 43 per cent under native vegetation. It is quite an extraordinary figure. We often think that Europeans came and clear felled all the natural vegetation, most of which is mallee scrub in this area, but in fact 43 per cent of this area is still under native vegetation. There are more than 100 conservation parks in the region, and about 650 heritage agreements are in place throughout the region on private property.

The big news for this house and beyond is that we received some rain over this last week. We were very dry—unusually dry—on Eyre Peninsula for this time of the year. The north-east received good rain in April, and they were able to sow crops. We received follow-up showers for much of Lower Eyre Peninsula and the Far West. There was very little rain to report; in fact, farmers sowed crops on a wing and a prayer. Some emerged, others had not. I am pleased to report that much of Lower Eyre Peninsula and the West Coast is looking forward to receiving about an inch of rain, in the old money, over this week, with some falls higher than that—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: —and the island as well, so that is good news for the farmers and producers of this state.