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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-15 Daily Xml
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Question Time

MURRAY RIVER IRRIGATORS

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): My question is to the Premier. Why will he not, on behalf of the state government, write a cheque today to establish a fund to provide loans to irrigators in South Australia to purchase temporary water on the open market?

In October this year the state Liberals called for low cost loans in its 10-point plan to help River Murray farmers and irrigators. Yesterday the Premier committed the state Labor government to a new policy of support for a plan to provide loan funds to irrigators to purchase water on the open market, a very significant step. In his statement to the house yesterday, made in the context of a federal election campaign, the Premier called on the Prime Minister (but not Mr Rudd) to commit funds to such a scheme. The federal government is in caretaker mode and it is uncertain exactly when a federal government may be in a position to act. But the state government has strong tax revenues and is in a position to act now. Irrigators have rallied on the steps of parliament today calling for the Premier to immediately help them.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I rise on a point of order. The point is unrelated, sir.

The SPEAKER: Order! I know what the point of order is. The Leader of the Opposition has gone beyond what is necessary to explain the question. The Minister for Water Security.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Small Business, Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry and Trade) (14:04): Thank you, Mr Speaker. The question that the Leader of the Opposition asks is one that needs to be answered in this place, and it needs to be answered in the context of what has already been achieved. What this state government has been doing over the last—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! The Minister for Water Security.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Since the drought really started to bite hard in 2006 when we saw a significant reduction in inflows into the River Murray system, the South Australian government has—

Mrs REDMOND: I have a point of order, sir. The member for Mount Gambier just called the entire opposition hypocrites and he suggested that that is not unparliamentary. I believe it is unparliamentary and that he should be asked to withdraw.

The SPEAKER: If the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries did call the opposition—or anyone in the chamber—hypocrites, I direct him to withdraw.

The Hon. R.J. McEWEN: I withdraw.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Given that it looked as though 2006 was going to be an extremely difficult year, the South Australian government established a senior water security advisory group and a senior water security task force. We established drought response teams within each of the departments. What we did through that process was to deal with all the immediate issues—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on both sides will come to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Thank you, sir. Through that process we have been dealing one-on-one with a range of different issues across the Murray-Darling Basin region. We appointed coordinators—above Lock 1, Neil Andrew, and, below Lock 1, Dean Brown—to work directly with those communities to establish a range of networks within those regions to get information out and to get advice from irrigators and communities about what needs to be done to support the communities. Within that framework we have been able to deal with many of the issues that have been facing irrigators during 2006-07. What has happened is that we have seen a continuation of the drought this year. The South Australian government has issued about $70 million worth of drought support.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I apologise to the minister for interrupting her. I warn the member for MacKillop.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: We have announced $70 million in drought relief packages. Many of the provisions are available to irrigators but, specifically, we have waived the fees on transfers for water licences for irrigators. We have waived NRM fees and we have ensured that they have had significant access to workshops and primary industries expertise and to working with industry groups to establish mechanisms by which information can be passed on to irrigators as to how they may better deal with the issues they are facing on their properties because of the low irrigation allocations.

Also, we have had to set aside the Murray-Darling sharing arrangements. We had to renegotiate them for the first time since the agreement was established. Those water-sharing arrangements do not cater for the current low amounts of water available in the system, and had the old water-sharing arrangements been maintained South Australia would be 100 gigalitres worse off now—100,000 megalitres worse off—which equates to over 16 per cent of the allocation to irrigators. We have had to negotiate a better deal to get more water into the system to enable us to have some allocation for irrigators. It is a very tight environment in which we work.

Only a portion of the water that falls into New South Wales is actually calculated in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin for distribution under the Murray-Darling Basin Commission Rules. The tributaries in New South Wales belong to New South Wales; the tributaries in Victoria belong to Victoria. They have access to other water that they can allocate to their irrigators. Unfortunately, our irrigators only have available to them water that is shared amongst the Murray-Darling Basin partners through the Murray-Darling Basin infrastructure. That means there is disparity between states as to how much water is available for irrigators in different regions, but do not think for a moment that anyone is doing it easy. It is particularly difficult out there right across the entire Murray-Darling Basin region.

I intend to go through a document which has been handed out to irrigators out the front who are absolutely desperate to see a way forward. It is a 10-point plan to absolutely nowhere. No. 1 is 'Leasing water. Establish a market mechanism for the lease of water licences...'. It is there. It already exists. No. 2 is. 'Financial assistance. Review Rural Adjustment Schemes with the view to providing repayable low cost loans to permanent growers for the purchase of water.' That is an interesting one, because the rural adjustment scheme was a federal scheme, and we support the opposition in that. It is just a pity that the opposition did not support the irrigators. The support for the regional adjustment schemes does not exist with the federal coalition. The federal coalition government has rejected outright any revisiting of the rural adjustment schemes.

Through our senior drought advisor to the Premier, we have worked with the irrigation community—with the South Australian Murray Irrigators—to develop a scheme that we can put forward to the federal government to say, 'Hey, you have $10 billion dollars. You have allocated $10 billion to improving water supply and underpinning security of supply to irrigation communities.' That is what it is about. The $10 billion is about reducing overallocation, dealing with the leaky channels, better infrastructure delivery and saving the water and getting the Murray-Darling Basin back to a more sustainable level. That is what the $10 billion plan is all about, and we support it 100 per cent. In fact, this government—Premier Rann—led the way to get an independent authority established.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: The South Australian government led the charge to have an independent authority to head up the national management of the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. We need to ensure that this process does not just hand the management from one lot of politicians to another lot of politicians who have the same communities of interest and the same pressures. New South Wales and Victoria will always have the numbers. South Australia is at the end of the line, so we fought the charge.

Our Premier, Mike Rann, got Premier Beattie on side in Queensland, and we delivered a change in the federal government's position to ensure that there was an independent authority. We worked with New South Wales, and the New South Wales government has supported us. And guess what: Victoria has not. Victoria has stood outside this and said, 'Blow you, Joe. We're all right. We've got what we need over here, and we're not giving up any of it.' That is the Victorians' attitude towards water.

We want a national plan: we have been pushing for a national plan. We led the charge with the debate this year. We have been leading it for years. We were the first jurisdiction to appoint an Independent Commissioner to the Murray-Darling Basin. We put John Scanlon up there in January last year, and we have been pushing for more water for the environment and more water for a sustainable River Murray for decades. Members opposite know that, because they have also been doing it. When some of them were in government, they were pushing for that as well.

We had a bipartisan approach to water, and we went to Canberra, both sides pushing for an improved system for the River Murray. The Living Murray was achieved: we achieved the first step towards that with the Living Murray initiative. South Australia has invested in projects in Victoria, we are investing in projects in South Australia and we will invest in projects in New South Wales that will deliver water for sustainable water into the River Murray.

If you get water into the River Murray, gravity sends it down our way, in case members opposite do not understand that. The importance of getting the river fixed up in the jurisdictions where it has been overallocated cannot be understated. If members opposite think we have to fix it by taking water from our irrigators here in South Australia, then they have another think coming. That is what the opposition's alternative plan is. They want us to take water from irrigators here, and we will not do that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms Chapman: Give her a bucket.

The SPEAKER: I warn the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. If she speaks—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Any member who yells out while the Speaker is on his feet will be named.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: No. 4 in this plan to nowhere is to fast-track desalination. Well, guess what: that is already occurring. This government is committed to desalination—not one, but two plants. We are committed to the BHP plant to take the Upper Spencer Gulf off the River Murray, and we have also committed to desalination for Adelaide. There will be more on that in the not too distant future. The next one—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Finniss! The Minister for Water Security.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I do not require the help of the Attorney-General, either. The Minister for Water Security.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: No. 5 states:

Support to Families. Proactively work with the federal government to provide matching state funding and resources for counselling services...

Well, where have you been? We are already doing that and have been doing that since this drought hit. In fact, this government led the charge to get the River Murray corridor EC declared—an irrigation district that normally would not qualify under the existing rules. We worked hard with the federal government to get those rules changed to ensure that the River Murray corridor could be EC declared. That work is already being undertaken. No. 6 is: 'Government jobs in the regions'. I can assure members that government jobs in the regions have been increasing dramatically since we have been improving services in the regions. We have a number of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: —service delivery projects where we are focussing our effort to make sure that we have got people out there delivering the services and not in back rooms doing the back-room grunt. We are committed to ensuring that we can save money in the back room to deliver services out in the front room. Now, the other thing is taxation relief. Here is a doozy! No. 7 states:

Taxation Relief. Explore the possibilities of temporary relief from state government taxes and charges, including relief from the Natural Resources Management Levy, Zero Waste Levy, River Murray Levy...payroll tax [and other taxes].

I can assure members that this is the only government that has given relief in payroll tax since I have been in this parliament. Since I have been in this parliament only one government has delivered payroll tax relief. The River Murray Levy, I assume, is the Natural Resources Management Levy. We have already waived that. We have waived that for the portion that people are not using. We have provided for a waiver on that levy. The stamp duties and the fees associated with the trade of water into this state have also been waived. We have waived those fees. We are already doing what this nonsense paper says. No. 8 states:

Buying back over-allocated water licences. Take action to ensure the federal government's $10 billion rescue package and new governance arrangements for the River Murray are put to buying back over-allocated... licences.

We are the government that led that. This government led the push to get water purchase onto the agenda. Up until January this year the federal government strongly opposed the purchase of water. It still opposes it. The federal government will only say that it will go into the market to purchase water as a last resort after all infrastructure projects have been completed. So, we are talking 10 years down the track before it will make a concerted effort. We need you to be putting pressure on your colleagues federally to get them to get into that marketplace and purchase water.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: The only jurisdiction that has been out there until just recently when we actually got the Murray-Darling Basin Commission to approve the purchase of water in the system was South Australia. We have been out there buying water in the system, and we have been putting it towards the Living Murray. Now, Lake Bonney, this is a laugh! No. 9 states:

Develop a long-term management plan for Lake Bonney.

Where have you been? You have been fighting with us to get Lake Bonney blocked off, and getting Lake Bonney blocked off saves 28 gigalitres of water for irrigators' allocations. You fought that. You said you didn't want it. Our irrigators needed it.

Mr PENGILLY: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. I understand that someone apart from the media is taking photos in the gallery. I draw it to your attention.

The SPEAKER: Yes.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I explain to members of the public in the gallery that only press photographers are allowed to photograph from the gallery. Members of the public are not to take photographs from the gallery. The Minister for Water Security.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Members of the opposition went to the Riverland and actively campaigned against the closure of Lake Bonney. The closure of Lake Bonney and the other wetlands was necessary to ensure that we can maximise the amount of water that we have available to allocate to irrigators. Where are they? They have all gone quiet now. You went up there when it suited you, when the papers were running and they were giving us a hard time, and you supported that cause. Now you're jumping on the other cause. It is just not good enough! The last one states:

Lagoons and Backwaters. Assess the impact of the planned closures of lagoons and backwaters along the River Murray and keep communities informed about rehabilitation initiatives.

Well, whoopee! That is exactly what we have been doing. This is a plan that shows no initiatives, has nothing new in it and is just fabricating to a community that is hurting. You are pretending to do something that is already being done. It is an absolute nonsense and you should be ashamed of yourself. One other matter— standing on the steps out the front today, the Leader of the Opposition said that we were investing in a project in Victoria to deliver water to Melbourne. Complete and outright lie. It is not a fact—

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There is a question coming on that and she will have an opportunity to answer, but that must be withdrawn.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: It was in your question.

The SPEAKER: Order! In order to assist the chair to keep order, I ask the minister to withdraw the remark.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: I will withdraw the term 'lie' and I will say that the reference to the $4.1 million for sending water to Melbourne is untrue.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There is no need for qualification. Standing orders require—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: —for the substance to be withdrawn.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will come to order! The Leader of the Opposition took exception to the word 'lie'. The minister has withdrawn it and replaced what she was saying. That is quite acceptable. The Minister for Water Security.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Thank you, sir. The investment in the project in Victoria is about getting water back for the environment. It is ring-fenced under the Living Murray initiative. It is a project that all jurisdictions, including the commonwealth—your colleagues—have also invested in that returns water from the environment—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Sorry, that is, water for the environment. It is irresponsible—

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for Hammond.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: It is irresponsible to mislead the public to the extent that the opposition continues to do so at the expense of those communities who are doing it tough. They need our support; they need your support; and they need you working with us to work on the federal government to get some of that $10 billion into a plan that can help irrigators through this very difficult time. You should be helping them, not trying to help your own political causes by trying to undermine the effort of this government, Dean Brown and the South Australian Murray Irrigators.

Honourable members: Hear, Hear!

The SPEAKER: Order!

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