Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: LEVY PROPOSALS 2013-14

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:56): I move:

That the reports of the committee on Natural Resources Management Board Levy Proposals, 2013-14, for Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South Australian Arid Lands and South-East, be noted.

One of the Natural Resources Committee's statutory obligations is to consider and make recommendations on any annual levy proposal by natural resources management boards where the increase exceeds the annual CPI rise. Of the seven proposed increases in the division 1 land-based levies for 2013, only two were higher than the 1.7 per cent CPI rate. All the division 2 water levy proposals were equal or lower than the CPI. This is an improvement on previous years when, in some cases, all seven boards together had sought to increase their levies by more than CPI.

Whilst the members are sympathetic to the desire of the NRM boards to increase their funding bases, members believe that above CPI increases should be the exception rather than the norm. The Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board has sought a 5.1 per cent division 1 increase, while the Kangaroo Island board has sought a 3.8 per cent division 1 increase. In both cases members were told that, due to an increased number of properties, the increase per rateable property was not expected to increase above CPI. This year the committee has determined not to object to all of the proposed NRM levy increases.

The increase in funding that the Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board will receive will enable it to increase staff numbers at a time when most other state government agencies are being forced to reduce their staffing due to budget constraints. While the increase in the levy per property is only $1, this represents an overall increase in funding to the board of approximately $1 million.

The AMLRNRM Board is extremely lucky to have such a large and constantly growing rate base. The ability of the board to raise funds in its region contrasts starkly with the rest of the state's NRM boards. Now that the Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board has finished its process of levy equalisation, the committee looks forward to a levy increase next year that is much closer to the CPI.

In the case of Kangaroo Island, committee members were impressed with the depth of knowledge shown by the presiding member, Mr Richard Trethewey, and the regional manager, Mr Bill Haddrill, with regard to the island and the management of its natural resources. In particular, members were impressed to hear that feral goat numbers have been reduced to a same-sex population. This means that, effectively, unless someone brings a goat of the opposite sex to the island and releases it, feral goats should soon be excluded from the island.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Anything is possible. The committee was pleased that the Eyre Peninsula NRM Board has proposed to keep its levy increase equal to 1.7 per cent CPI rate. As members of this house will know, the Natural Resources Committee has been inquiring into the Eyre Peninsula water supply over the past year.

When receiving evidence in April, the committee heard from Eyre Peninsula NRM Board presiding member, Heather Baldock, that several board members will not seek re-election to the board when their terms expire later this year. The committee members were made to understand that one of the reasons for this is that some board members felt that they had become punching bags for disaffected community members. We experienced a little bit of that when we visited Eyre Peninsula recently, where we actually took along a number of members to a particular meeting. A certain amount of aggression was shown to these people. As far as I am concerned, this is part and parcel of the job. However, they were reasonably protected by members of the board who were there.

Whilst we understand that there is a lot of emotion around the issue of water supply, which is the subject of our inquiry, this does not excuse bad behaviour from community members. Board members who have volunteered their time to try to find positive solutions to environmental problems should be applauded for their efforts and not abused. The committee was pleased to note that the Northern and Yorke NRM Board proposed to freeze its levies for 2013-14. Two years ago we received feedback from the Hon. Caroline Schaefer, who we all know was a very highly regarded member of this council and is now the board's presiding member, with regard to the complexity of updating business plans annually.

As a former member of the Natural Resources Committee and current presiding member of the Northern and Yorke NRM Board, Caroline Schaefer in a unique position to comment on the process of amending board business plans. It was Caroline Schaefer's plain speaking in April 2011 in evidence to the committee that convinced members of the need to prepare a special report to parliament on NRM levy and NRM business planning processes. This report was tabled in September 2012.

The Natural Resources Committee was also pleased to hear that for 2013-14 the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board is proposing to increase both its divisions 1 and 2 levies by CPI. The committee has been unhappy with above CPI increases in previous years, and warned last year that it would not entertain such increases in future.

Despite the fact that the board included a proposed water levy for the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area in its business plan last year, the water allocation plan was not adopted during 2012-13. The board has once again included the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges in its business plan 2013-14. The committee hopes that in the next 12 months the Minister for Environment and Conservation will be in a position to adopt this plan.

Members were impressed with the enormous contribution volunteers make to NRM projects in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM region. Committee members heard that almost 3,000 volunteers are involved annually in board-managed NRM projects. The Arid Lands NRM Board for the first time ever is proposing to keep both its levies within CPI. After visiting the region in late 2010, members gained a new appreciation of the unique logistical demands facing this remote area board, including difficulties sourcing and securing long-term funding and employment for staff. The committee was impressed with the work the Arid Lands NRM Board had done over the past year in continuing its work eradicating athel pine and date palms.

Members appreciated the preparations the board had made towards monitoring the progress of cane toads towards South Australia. The committee also appreciates the board's continued commitment to ecosystem management understanding (or EMU, as it is known). EMU was initially developed by landscape ecologists Drs Ken Tinley and Hugh Pringle to facilitate sustainable rangeland management. After trying the concept in 2009, the board is new delivering it across numerous properties, including pastoral leases and conservation reserves. This landscape-scale approach is used to deal with soil erosion, invasive species and biodiversity challenges across property boundaries.

The South-East Natural Resources Management Board restricted its levy increase to CPI. The committee was pleased to hear of the good work the board has done in eradicating pest plants and animals. We heard that nearly 1,400 properties, covering more than 160,000 hectares and 15,000 kilometres of roadsides, had been inspected over the past year, during which:

657 feral deer and 57 feral goats were removed;

300 hectares of rabbit control was carried out on six priority properties;

125 hectares of priority blackberry sites were controlled; and

over 45,000 fox baits and 7,500 kilograms of rabbit baits were sold to land managers and property owners.

In addition, the board facilitated 25 public education events to promote best practice in invasive species management.

Members look forward to hearing more good news from the board next year. The South-East Natural Resources Management Board has consistently worked hard in achieving the aims and objectives of its regional NRM plan, and its board and regional NRM group members have put in an enormous amount of time guiding the efforts of volunteer organisations and staff.

The South-East Natural Resources Management Board is renowned for its high achievements in the area of water resources management and pest control. It has faced enormous challenges in finding the right balance between improving land productivity and preserving wetlands from increasing salinity and reduced rainfall. These challenges will continue as climate continues to change and local drainage schemes are put to the test.

I would like to commend the members of the committee: Presiding Member the Hon. Steph Key MP, Mr Geoff Brock MP, Mrs Robyn Geraghty MP, Mr Lee Odenwalder MP, Mr Don Pegler MP, Mr Dan van Holst Pellekaan MP, the Hon. Robert Brokenshire MLC and, of course, the Hon. John Dawkins MLC. I also acknowledge the contribution of the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars, who recently resigned from the committee. Finally, I would like to thank committee staff for their assistance. I commend these reports to the council.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (16:06): It gives me pleasure to rise to support the motion in the name of the Hon. Mr Wortley that the 78^th to 84^th reports of the Natural Resources Committee be noted. My remarks will be brief, but I want to make it clear that I think that NRM boards, members and staff—who are now, unfortunately, under the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources—do extraordinarily good work, in the main. We do hear, in this place and in others, criticisms of some of that work, and I will not say that there are not some staff who at some stage go a bit further than they should but, in the main, those of us who have the privilege to be on the committee—and I include the Hon. Mr Kandelaars who is no longer there but who still retains an interest in the work of the committee—do have the ability, I think, to learn about a lot of good work that natural resource management does.

Certainly, the Liberal Party is supportive of strong structures in natural resource management and, if we are lucky enough to be in government after next year, we will certainly have a look at the way the whole thing is organised. I think our leader, Mr Marshall, the member for Norwood, has indicated that there will be a root and branch review of natural resource management.

However, in the main we are believers that there has to be a structure in natural resource management, and I am one who was a strong advocate in a parliamentary committee of amalgamating the soil boards and animal and pest and plant control boards at the end of the 1990s and in the early 2000s. What has evolved from that is not ideal in the minds of many, but we certainly need a structure, and our party is committed to that. As I said, I very strongly support the comments of the member for Norwood, who is, of course, the Leader of the Opposition.

In noting this report, I want to make some comments in relation to the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges levy proposal. As the Hon. Mr Wortley said, it was one of two that were greater than the CPI level of 1.7 per cent. The Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board was the other one that was above CPI, and I think the committee always has a degree of empathy with the work of the Kangaroo Island board and the Arid Lands board because they are both dealing with a very small population and unique circumstances. So, the increase on the Kangaroo Island board was approved.

In relation to the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges board, they proposed a division 1 increase of 5.1 per cent which is three times the CPI. In the previous year the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges board came in with a proposed increase in excess of 11 per cent. The Natural Resources Committee actually knocked that back and subsequently at the minister's suggestion the Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board reduced that to 6.1 per cent. They have now come in with 5.1 per cent.

For the reasons outlined by the Hon. Mr Wortley, the committee has approved that increase but, in doing so, the letter to the minister has noted that the board has consistently proposed increases above CPI since 2008-09. My personal view, and I am sure I am not alone on the committee, is that an increase above CPI in the future from the Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board should not be agreed to by the committee. We have to recognise that while the board's geographical area is not huge—it goes from Victor Harbor to the southern banks of the River Light—it has by far the vast majority of the population of South Australia in it, and I think it is time that board cut its cloth more appropriately.

I enjoy the work of the committee, particularly in our dealings with the various boards. The visits we make to the boards as described the Hon. Mr Wortley are most valuable, but also we appreciate the efforts that are made by the board chairs and staff to come and give evidence to the committee. In supporting the motion, once again I commend the efforts of the presiding member of the committee, the Hon. Steph Key, other committee members and our two staff.

Motion carried.