House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time River Murray River Murray Ms STINSON House of Assembly Badcoe River Murray Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (14:50): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Can the Deputy Premier update the house on preparations for predicted high-water flows along the River Murray in December? The Hon. S.E. CLOSE House of Assembly Port Adelaide Deputy Premier Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Minister for Defence and Space Industries Minister for Climate, Environment and Water River Murray The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:50): I thank the member for her question. Yes, I would be delighted to update the chamber on the status of the flow of the Murray. As members may well be aware, there is a weekly forecast that is being undertaken in order to keep the community up to date with the expected high-level water. This week, we have been informed that it is likely still for it to be 135 gigalitres of water flowing over the Victorian border still in early December. So that has not changed in the last week, although what has changed is that there is an expectation that the high water, probably at around 100 gigalitres, will last longer than previously expected—well into January and probably for the entirety of January. That is as a result of more rain that has fallen further into Victoria and the management by the Victorian government of their water sources, in particular the Hume Dam, which will see a flow of water come through in several weeks. There is also a moderate possibility of the flow reaching 150 gigalitres a day in early December. As members will also I am sure be aware, the predictions that are made are done so on the basis of water currently in the system should rain continue to fall; and particularly if it falls close to the Victorian-South Australian border then we may well see higher rates yet to come. It is important that we maintain these forecasts at a regular rate and make sure that the community is well aware. I pay tribute to the Minister for Emergency Services and the head of the SES, who have been working very closely on managing the situation as we get close to that high water time. There is an expectation of blackwater coming through the Murray. That is when—and it is an inevitable consequence—a large amount of organic material is washed into the river all at once, and as that decomposes the water as deoxygenated and some fish, particularly the larger fish, find that extremely difficult to manage. We are concerned that there will be a fish die-off that is seen, and we ask that if people observe any fish die-offs that they inform PIRSA about that. Lake Victoria has been identified as a fish haven, and there is work being done to make sure that remains clear of any blackwater event in order to create a haven for the native fish. There has also been an amount of work done for levee preparation, which I am sure members will be anxiously concerned about, making sure that levees that have not had to be used for a very long time now—the water that we are talking about is as high as we have seen since the mid-1970s—are able to maintain protection for important infrastructure and town centres. At a meeting last week which I attended briefly, along with the Minister for Emergency Services, all the mayors and chief executives of the Riverland and Lower Murray councils attended, and they have undertaken to do an audit to look at each of the levees on their lands to identify whether there is work that is required. I have seen a report already from the Renmark Paringa Council that has identified some 22 levees that need to be looked at. Two of those have already been not only looked at but also the early works and the completed works have occurred. Early works have started on another two. There are still about six that are required to be looked at, which should start from tomorrow, and the rest, where there is work required, that will be starting I am informed around 7 November. We have a reasonable expectation that works are being undertaken where we are aware there are concerns with the integrity of levees. I am pleased to say that the work between local government and state government agencies appears to be going extremely smoothly, and that cooperative effort is going to stand us in good stead as we head into early December and we see that high water.