NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. G.A. Kandelaars:

That the annual report of the Natural Resources Committee 2012-12 be noted.

(Continued from 19 September 2012.)

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (17:15): Once again, I rise to support the remarks made by the Hon. Mr Kandelaars. He has very ably covered the work the committee has done on a variety of different inquiries over the reporting period and the work it does in visiting the various NRM boards, which is part of its charter, as it also looks at the rises they propose in their levy rates. A major part of the work of the committee in that reporting period was the inquiry into the draft Murray-Darling Basin plan. It was a bipartisan report with bipartisan recommendations.

In many senses it was a much more reasonable and achievable outcome than some of the emotive arguments put forward by both the state government and many people interstate. I think it is a tribute to the committee that it came up with a reasoned, unemotive set of recommendations, given that there are nine of us on the committee: four Labor, two Liberal and three from the crossbenches. It was a good example of how committees can work together and come up with some bipartisan, or multipartisan, recommendations. I commend the report to the council.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (17:17): I thank the Hon. John Dawkins for his further comments. One thing I will stress is that I believe the Natural Resources Committee to be one of the hardest working committees of the parliament. As the Hon. John Dawkins said, it works quite effectively on a bipartisan point of view. I will leave it at that.

Motion carried.