MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (14:41): Will the minister outline the importance of the recent signing of the 'Rolls Royce' Murray-Darling Basin Plan?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his most important question about the quality of the River Murray plan that we have signed up to and acknowledge that we have, of course, gone for the higher quality model as opposed to the, I think it was, pimped-up Mazda the Hon. Ms Lensink said the Liberal Party was proposing for the state. Whilst I have no aspirations whatsoever to having a Rolls Royce myself, I understand the quality connection the honourable member was making.

Sir, as you are aware at least, and members on this side, perhaps, the Premier did sign up to the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Signing the plan represents a great victory for South Australia. It is a significant win for the River Murray and a significant win for the communities that rely upon it. Our state's signature was, of course, conditional on a receipt of a letter from the Hon. Tony Burke MP, which my leader today spoke about earlier. The former minister for sustainability, environment, water, population and communities confirmed the arrangements for funding of the $265 million South Australian River Murray sustainability program, which the leader outlined to the house earlier this afternoon.

Throughout the development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the South Australian government has actively championed the interests of the River Murray and its communities. Key to this was our non-negotiable point that an amount of water that ensures a healthy river system that restores environmental values and provides for viable and productive industries and communities into the future must be able to flow downstream. This was, of course, based on the best available science, and I make the point again that members opposite do not seem to understand that, when you have new evidence, when you have new information, the sensible approach, the approach you expect governments to make, is to change their mind. When scientists are telling us that this is the best available science and that this is what you should be basing the decision on, we listen. Obviously that does not apply to everyone in this chamber.

We brought together industry, irrigators, Riverland communities and everyday South Australians who care about the future of the river and our state. We took up the fight with upstream states and ultimately secured a basin plan. We secured the health of the basin long into the future.

As you would be aware, Mr President, central to this process was our Premier, Jay Weatherill, establishing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Task Force. This task force comprised key ministers and chief executives from across government, as well as the Chief Scientist and chair of the Goyder Institute for Water Research. These experts oversaw the coordination of the state's response on the basin plan—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, could you repeat that? I could not hear it.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I will repeat that paragraph, sir, for your benefit.

An honourable member interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I am interested, minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Mr President, the task force comprised key ministers and chief executives from across government, as well as the Chief Scientist, Professor Don Bursill, and chair of the Goyder Institute for Water Research, Dr Ian Chessell. These experts oversaw the coordination of the state's response on the basin plan, and the task force led the development of the state government's policy positions and formal submissions on the basin plan based on science, expert policy analysis, and community input.

The government made four formal submissions on the various iterations of the draft basin plan as well as submissions to five related parliamentary inquiries, I am advised. The government also promoted a number of regional development, water recovery and environmental works, and measures project proposals. Importantly, the government undertook significant community and industry engagement, including the Fight for the Murray campaign, which saw over 19,000 people pledge support, attracted over 28,000 followers through Facebook and Twitter, and resulted in over 5,000 letters demanding a better plan be sent to the Prime Minister. These efforts delivered a better basin plan.

Everyone who was involved in the campaign—river locals and South Australians concerned about the future of our most important natural resource—deserves our congratulations. We could not have done it without the community coming together, and together we achieved a great win for South Australia, including commitments that will support improved environmental, industry and community outcomes in South Australia as well as for the basin.

There is now, of course, the commitment to return more water to the River Murray so that environmental outcomes consistent with recovering 3,200 gigalitres of water can be achieved, and this is written into the basin plan. The plan also includes improved salinity targets and a minimum water level objective for the River Murray below Lock 1, and it requires the authority to develop the constraints management strategy to remove constraints to successful environmental water delivery.

Commonwealth funding of $1.77 billion has been committed to recover the additional 450 gigalitres of water required to achieve the 3,200 gigalitres of water recovery and to address constraints, and it is unfortunate that the New South Wales and Queensland governments did not sign up to the plan so that they might get their share of that money. However we did, and some $200 million of this funding will be spent on addressing constraints. I can advise that the additional 450 gigalitres will be recovered in a socioeconomically neutral or even beneficial manner, including through on-farm efficiency measures or alternative arrangements which will be agreed by the states.

Throughout this process we have been concerned about the effects of climate change and groundwater extraction. The plan requires that the risks from climate change must be assessed and considered in any future reviews, along with better information on groundwater and surface water connectivity. Furthermore, groundwater sustainable diversion limits (SDLs) have been significantly reduced from those proposed in earlier versions of the basin plan, reflecting a more precautionary approach.

Additionally, the plan includes a mechanism to increase or reduce groundwater SDLs based on better knowledge of recharge rates, surface and groundwater connections, and usage as our information improves. Most importantly, the Jay Weatherill government has secured commonwealth government commitments of $445 million in funding for water recovery, industry regeneration, regional development and environment works and projects in our state. I should also add that the government has released—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, I cannot hear you.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr President; I will speak up. I should also add that the government has released the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Plan implementation strategy. This will guide the state's implementation of the basin plan and related programs between 2013 and 2019. The strategy outlines key actions that will be pursued to ensure that the basin plan is fully integrated into South Australia's ongoing water management arrangements.

Significant effort will be required to work with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and other basin states—we understand that—to develop new working arrangements for the implementation of the basin plan that ensures all basin governments—all of them—meet their obligations. State officials are currently working with the other jurisdictions and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to develop a basin plan implementation agreement.

I have said before that this is a great win for our state, but I want to take the opportunity to remind everyone in the chamber that the win was the result of a team effort—a team effort by government, non-government organisations, the community, industry and even the media. I am very pleased that even the Liberal Party are coming on board, even at this late stage. We are all ready to take them with us on this grand campaign for our state.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Simon Birmingham came on board before this mob did. Senator Simon Birmingham came on board before this mob over here did, but he didn't convince any of you. You still wanted the clapped out Mazda.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Lensink, I am not pleased to hear you.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Everyone who got on board the campaign—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I am not pleased to hear you.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —whatever their affiliations, deserves congratulations. A healthy River Murray will be a testament to these efforts.

The PRESIDENT: A supplementary question, the Hon. Mr Parnell.