Water Pricing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:51): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation questions about the water levies and the NRM.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Thanks to the minister's office, I have received a copy of the National Water Initiative. There is a chapter in the National Water Initiative Pricing Principles with subchapters of principles for recovering the costs of water planning and management activities. Some of the relevant principles include the following:

In the context of the NWI and for the purpose of cost recovery, water planning and management are those activities undertaken by, or on behalf of governments as a result of water use…only

Governments have committed in the NWI to publicly report the total cost of water planning and management and the proportion of the total cost of water planning and management…attributed to water access entitlement holders and the basis on which this proportion is determined.

Having identified water planning and management costs to be recovered from water users, in whole or in part, activities should be 'tested' for cost-effectiveness by an independent party and the findings of the cost-effectiveness review are to be made public.

Costs are to be allocated between the water users and governments using an impactor pays approach.

That clause continues and a couple of others:

Water planning and management costs are to be identified and differentiated by catchment or valley…Water planning and management charges should in turn, recover the costs of activities concerned and be differentiated by catchment or valley or region and by water source…where practicable.

Principle 10 in the introduction to the NWI Pricing Principles states:

These principles have been agreed by Australian governments as the basis for setting water prices/charges in their jurisdictions. Governments agree that if a decision was made not to apply these principles in a particular case, the reasons for this would be tabled in parliament.

My questions are:

1. Has the minister tabled any of this in parliament?

2. If the minister has not, does the minister believe that he and/or his department are in breach of section 99 of the Natural Resources Management Act?

3. Based on all of that, and to get some confidence back for payers of the levy, will the minister agree to the Primary Producers South Australia call for a totally independent and transparent review of costings and prices?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:54): I am not sure, no, and no.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Dawkins.