Eyre Peninsula Water Supply

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (15:46): I want to speak today about one of the most important—indeed most fundamental—challenges for my region, Eyre Peninsula, and that is water. Indeed, it is something that those of us from Eyre Peninsula have all grown up knowing about, from the construction of the Tod Reservoir, which was opened in 1922, to the subsequent engineering feat of a gravity-fed water pipeline from there all the way west to Ceduna, some 400 kilometres away.

We know about the use and subsequent mismanagement of some of the underground basins and have ongoing concerns. We know of the now decades-long campaign by the community and their local MPs to get a desalination plant on Eyre Peninsula, with concerns about the longevity of the underground water aquifers that supply the peninsula. This campaign resulted in the previous Liberal government being the first to make any indication on advancing that project, with a $99 million budget allocation during the previous term.

After community industry concerns about the way that SA Water proposed to locate the desalination plant at Billy Lights Point, in the bay area of Port Lincoln, the former minister put in place a site selection committee, made up of community leaders, fishing and aquaculture industries and the local government sector, tasked with putting together the work for an alternative location.

I must commend this committee for their work. They were thorough, they were thoughtful, evidence based, collaborative and consultative, and after much deliberation and evidence-gathering they made a recommendation of their preferred site at Sleaford West. They considered all different aspects: environmental, economic, cost and constructability. They got expert advice, scientific advice. They were thorough. Unfortunately, this has been ignored by this minister and SA Water, and now the community once again is faced with a project advancing at Billy Lights Point.

Port Lincoln is known as the seafood capital of the state, with fishing and aquaculture being a significant component of the local and state economy. Many of these aquaculture industries are based within this bay area of Port Lincoln, notably tuna, kingfish and mussels. With this in mind the community and industries at the time came out strongly opposing SA Water's proposal, and in response to this the question still remains: what will be the impact on our fishing and aquaculture industries?

The minister has previously advised that she has a report which found that it can be built without negatively impacting the local marine environment, with ocean modelling showing that, once the plant is operational, long-term salinity levels in the bay will remain within natural background levels. But there is still no confidence in that perspective from my community, as the locals know the fine balance that existing industries must make with their interactions with the local marine environment, as they focus on this, and they rely on this, for their clean, green produce which they are renowned for.

The minister has also previously made a statement that:

…the final decision on the plant will be informed by a separate business case being prepared by Infrastructure SA into the Northern Water Supply project…

We know that subsequent to this statement, the Northern Water supply project team had announced that Cape Hardy is the recommended location, which is much closer to Port Lincoln than previous recommended locations, and only around 35 to 45 kilometres away from the main EP water line.

I know this is a significant project, it is a significant proposal—the Northern Water scheme—but I hope the government, the minister and her department and SA Water start to have a big picture perspective on water supply on Eyre Peninsula. If we are serious about getting an appropriate long-term solution for Eyre Peninsula water, we need to look at all the different factors because there continue to be concerns about all aspects of Eyre Peninsula water.

Currently, the upper and western parts of Eyre Peninsula are relying predominantly on River Murray water coming via the Iron Knob to Kimba pipeline. The people of Elliston and surrounds, which rely on the Bramfield Basin, have recently become aware of significant long-term sustainability issues regarding their own ongoing water supply. The town relies on water supply from the Bramfield Basin and is not connected to other water supplies available to the majority of Eyre Peninsula. This is happening in the shadow of the mismanagement previously of the nearby Polda Basin and the close-by Robinson Basin.

My community have multifaceted concerns about their sustainability, but water is obviously a vital aspect that is non-negotiable. This is why the government must invest in the big picture on water on the EP, not short-term budget savings by building a desal at Billy Lights Point. Build a desal in the right place and of the right size, invest in infrastructure that will enable industry growth and not put at risk existing productive industries.