Recreational Fishing

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Will the minister inform the chamber about how the South Australian government is providing new opportunities for recreational activities in our state's reservoirs?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. At the 2014 state election, this government committed $400,000 over two years to investigate the opening of up to five offline reservoirs to recreational fishers. This included grants of $20,000 to the Barossa Council for a master plan, and a further $140,000 to upgrade infrastructure at the Warren Reservoir.

We also awarded $72,600 to the Northern Areas Council for infrastructure to support recreational fishing access to the Bundaleer Reservoir. RecFish SA has also received $40,000 from the state government's Recreational Fishing Grants Program to stock the Warren and Bundaleer reservoirs with native fish, I am advised. Following an extensive investigation, the Hindmarsh Valley and Baroota reservoirs will not be opened at this time. The government is committed to improving opportunities for recreational fishing in South Australia where environmentally appropriate and where it is supported by the local community. That is why the Tod Reservoir is one of the five reservoirs investigated for inclusion in the recreational fishing program.

I am pleased to announce that the Tod Reservoir will be included as part of our commitment to open up reservoirs for recreational activities. The Tod Reservoir is situated just north of Port Lincoln and west of Tumby Bay on Eyre Peninsula. We have recently committed to dam safety upgrades—I think I have spoken on that in this place in the past—to commence in December and be completed in 2017.

Those upgrades will include: lowering the water level and increasing the flood capacity; modifying the dam outlet to better manage the release of water; modification of intake channels feeding into the dam; modifying existing causeways downstream, including installation of flood gauges at Gawler Ponds Road, Macdonald Road and Reservoir Drive; managing sediment and erosion in the creek bed downstream of the spillway; and planting native vegetation for land management and sediment control.

An exciting part of the Tod Reservoir story has been the involvement of students from the Port Lincoln High School. In August 2015 the school received a $40,000 grant—$20,000 from state government and $20,000 from SA Water. The grant was for a three-year project investigating the viability of the Tod Reservoir for stocking with a suitable recreational fishing species.

This was a great opportunity to involve the local community in some long-term policy development for their area, and the Port Lincoln High School's aquaculture committee facilitated two field trips by staff and students for initial data collection of various key physical, biological and ecological parameters. Field trips provided students with an opportunity to learn about the history of the reservoir and teach them valuable data collection skills and techniques.

Downstream of the Tod Reservoir we have nationally significant wetlands, and that is why it is important that we get the planning right and invest in the necessary infrastructure. Opening up this reservoir is fantastic news for the local community and tourists alike. People already visit the reservoir to use the community barbeques and tennis courts and visit the museum on weekends, so opening up the reservoir for recreational fishing is a good next step.

I thank the reservoir recreational fishing task force, RecFish SA and SA Water for their ongoing collaboration over this great project. It is a lesson, I suppose, to those opposite: they should be more interested in announcing policy thought bubbles with absolutely no costings and no thought about environmental impacts—that is just the way they are. They do not talk to local communities, they do not engage with the experts: they just come up with some weird idea that is uncosted and will actually cost, in the case to which I am referring, SA Water customers even more for water treatment.

They were promising land that their own Liberal government gave away. They have to go and buy it back. So, they do not even remember their own history when they were last in government. They do not even remember their own history when they sold off this land and now—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the floor.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —they're going to have to use—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the floor.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Leader of the Opposition, order!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I will not tolerate this disgraceful behaviour. The honourable minister is on his feet trying to give an answer to the question. I expect him to have the respect of the chamber to do it in silence.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! You're wasting your question time—the seconds are ticking by. Minister.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Obviously I have touched on a sore point for the opposition, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Obviously.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: This incredible announcement that they want to open up drinking water supplies for public use, for people to swim in, for them to fish in, for them to boat in—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Point of order, Mr President: the person creating the most noise complained that he couldn't hear the minister speaking, and I can't hear the minister speaking either—I concur with that. How about we have some quiet so that we can hear the minister speaking?

The PRESIDENT: I don't think I need your point of order to rule them in line.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Is that a dare, is it? You want to dare me to have you the first person chucked out? Any further—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister!

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I expect the government side of the chamber to act in a very responsible way by the fact of your positions. I also expect the Leader of the Opposition, by the very fact of his position, to show an example to the rest that, when we are in question time and the seconds are ticking over, we have the minister give his answer so that we can get on to the next question. Minister, please finish your answer.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: This is obviously a sore point for them. They have had no consultation with the local community, no consultation with the experts involved in water planning and management. What sort of opposition are you, when you come into this place—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I have just asked the minister. I don't need anyone else to assist me. Minister, just answer the question.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —and come up with a recreational fishing plan for a drinking water reservoir? The contrast between them, sir, and us could not be much clearer. We believe in an evidence-based policy in this regard. They come up here and take a government idea about recreational fishing in offline dams and then just muck it up for the rest of South Australians. I don't know—I would like to find out—whether they have actually consulted with the southern Adelaide community about how they feel about having dogs exercising on a drinking water dam wall, having people swimming in a drinking water dam, having people boating in a drinking water dam, having people fishing in a drinking water dam, but that's not what the Liberals in this state do.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: They don't consult with communities at all. They come up with a thought bubble to get a press release on the day, and there is absolutely no substance to it—and no costings, no costings whatsoever. How much is it going to cost SA Water customers to add that extra level of treatment to address the risks that are created by this mob's bright lightbulb moment? Flash, and they just stuff the whole thing up. They are a joke—they are an absolute joke. We, on the other hand, will continue to work with our communities to drive better recreational outcomes in offline dams, because that's what communities want.