Mount Bold Dam

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:35): In 2016, the community of Old Noarlunga experienced devastating floods. It happened at night-time, there had been a period of very substantial rain over a number of days and the Onkaparinga River broke its banks and entered many people's homes in that community. The member for Mawson and I visited and met with many people who were devastated by those floods. In fact, we were out helping people sandbag through that spring period, I believe it was, when those devastating floods happened.

Since that time, I have worked with many constituents to try to put their lives back together. People have gone through devastating loss. They have gone through the trauma of having to deal with insurance companies, deal with contractors and try to put their lives back together. Floods can be very difficult to recover from because it takes so long to put your house and your life back together as they were before.

I think it is incumbent upon knowing what pain hundreds of people in Old Noarlunga have been through that we, as a parliament and a government, take every step possible to avoid that happening again. That is why I am so disturbed by the actions of this government at the moment in relation to the Mount Bold Dam. This government is considering an upgrade to that dam, which is, of course, welcome.

This is the dam that is upstream on the Onkaparinga River and is obviously what holds back the water from flooding the Old Noarlunga region. However, the government is considering an upgrade to the dam that would not provide a one-in-100-year flood protection but only a one-in-18-year flood protection. That means that the people in Old Noarlunga, if this goes ahead, are faced with the prospect of potential flooding once every 18 years, according to the government's own estimates.

The government have said, 'We will consider going to the higher standard of one in 100 years but, Onkaparinga council, you have to chip in millions of dollars for that to happen.' The Onkaparinga council does not own the dam, they do not own the infrastructure and it is not their responsibility in terms of this house to manage that infrastructure. This is an SA Water/South Australian government asset under the purview of the Minister for Environment, the member for Black.

The member for Black has gone to this council and said that ratepayers have to pay millions of dollars, otherwise they are going to put in a solution that is going to see Old Noarlunga having to be flooded every few years. It is an absolute disgrace and shows the member for Black's contempt for the people of my community, that they would propose that.

I have received a letter that has now been sent to the Premier from the Onkaparinga council. It is signed not only by Mayor Erin Thompson but also by Deputy Mayor Simon McMahon, who happened to be the Liberal candidate running against me at the last election. The council is united in its view that this is a state government responsibility and that it is an absolute insult what is being put forward by the member for Black, the Minister for Environment, that the council should have to pay. They have said:

This is extremely concerning to Council and the community, especially as residents of Old Noarlunga are still recovering from the impacts of the 2016 flood…The Minister for Environment and Water, Hon David Speirs MP, has requested that Council makes a financial contribution of at least $2.93 million towards the $11.7 million shortfall between the proposed and superior upgrade options. This equates to a 2.1 per cent rate revenue increase for our ratepayers.

This is the government that has gone on about how they are reducing rates, but here they are trying to rack the rates up for the citizens of Onkaparinga. They continue:

Our ratepayers already pay state taxes and the majority are SA Water customers, effectively already paying for this upgrade. This request appears to seek a further local community subsidisation of an SA Water asset which ultimately benefits the entire metropolitan area. Council is fundamentally opposed to this request, as the dam is a state government asset for which our insurance scheme advises Council has no liability.

Given this, the Council has resolved to write directly to you—

being the Premier—

to ask that you step in and protect the community and this historically important town from unnecessary risk of flood.

This is now becoming an urgent issue because SA Water have indicated that the current upgrade option will be confirmed in October 2021, which is of course this month.

So this is now an issue for the Premier of this state. Is he going to force his minister, the Minister for Environment, to look after the people of Old Noarlunga and make sure they get an option for this dam that is going to protect them from floods or put in a half-hearted effort that is going to see their homes threatened by flood every couple of decades or so? It is a real test of whether they actually care about the whole state or whether they only care about their own electorates.