Water Allocation

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:49): I have a supplementary question. I thank the minister for his answer, and I am grateful for the fact that, as he said in his own words, the announcement of water restrictions will be much earlier than in previous years. Will the minister have ongoing discussions with organisations like the Renmark Irrigation Trust and the Central Irrigation Trust in the development of the strategy of announcing restrictions in the future?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:50): I frequently engage with the Riverland communities, particularly the irrigators, and certainly the NRM board and the RMAC. I think I was up in Mannum last Friday talking to RMAC about these issues. It's important that everybody understands that there are some things I can consult on and talk about and there are some things I have to be very careful about because they have a market impact.

If we make those determinations or have those discussions, I have to be very careful about the comments that we make. We can't be seen to be giving preferential treatment to one small group of people over another. Our intention is to explore these issues very broadly with the whole community and also through the representative bodies. But in terms of water-impacting announcements, I will keep them very close, make them to the market in the appropriate way, and that's usually through a ministerial statement, a ministerial press release, and putting it up on the DEWNR website so that everyone can access that information at the same time. I think that's the right thing to do.