Environmental Water Allocations

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray questions regarding environmental water allocations.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder sold 22.864 gigalitres of commonwealth environmental water allocations on 18 November. Of that 22.864 gigalitres, more than 95 per cent was bought by Victorian, Goulburn and Murray irrigators. The remaining 1 gigalitre was sold to licence holders in South Australia. The sale, I am advised, was conducted on an open tender process over three days and received 525 eligible bids with 53 of those bids considered best value for money for the commonwealth. My questions to the minister are:

1. Did the South Australian government tender for any water in the recent tender process?

2. Is the government considering any future purchases of commonwealth environmental water allocations?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. In relation to the commonwealth water holder and its ability to trade water, the honourable member may recall that I took some issue with the commonwealth on this matter I think somewhere over the last 12 months, because my concern was very much about whether, in fact, the commonwealth water holder should have been banking that water and utilising it for dry periods.

However, I can advise the chamber that I was convinced that there are some potential benefits for South Australia in allowing the commonwealth water holder to trade excess water at times when it is not required, to build up a resource for utilisation in times when it is required and when it is facing a dry situation on the Murray.

In terms of the South Australian government buying water out of the Goulburn Valley, I can advise the honourable member that to my knowledge we have not been in that market. I suspect his supplementary question will be why, and the question that needs to be answered there is about how much water is wasted in terms of transportation down to the border and whether it is more effective to use that water in the local vicinity rather than risk evaporation costs and transportation costs in water.

We would not normally be in the market as a government to buy water unless we were actually buying it to return it to the river in terms of our environmental promises during the Murray-Darling Basin agreement processes. As I understand it, we are about 75 per cent of the way there already in terms of what we are required to return, and we are pretty confident that the project plans into the future will well and truly meet the requirements that we have signed up to.

To the best of my knowledge, the state government has not been buying water from the Goulburn. I understand water was also traded out of New South Wales for one day and it was oversubscribed and had to be closed within 24 hours. I think some of that water was traded in South Australia, from memory. My advice may have been four licences or four amounts but, to the best of my knowledge, they traded into the private market for irrigators to use.