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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-23 Daily Xml
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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) (17:08): I rise to contribute to the grievance debate and to talk about the issues that are facing South Australia in relation to water security.

Currently, South Australia is facing an extremely critical situation in relation to a shortage of water right across the Murray-Darling Basin. We are heading into another year of dry inflows into the River Murray. In fact, in June this year we recorded again a new minimum low inflow to the River Murray. That is the lowest June on record; the next lowest prior to that was in June 2006. This is quite an extraordinary event to have occurred, and it is creating an enormous amount of angst and anguish for our regional communities.

The Riverland, in my electorate of Chaffey, is one of the communities that has been hardest hit as a consequence of this severe and unprecedented drought. Currently, irrigation allocations are sitting at only 2 per cent, and the impact on my electorate is horrendous. We have seen a situation where, over the last two years, the irrigation allocations have been set at 60 per cent and in the following year 32 per cent, and this year the opening allocations have begun at 2 per cent. The water in the system available to South Australia is just not enough to meet all the competing needs. We are seeing an extraordinary situation evolving in the Lower Lakes in that we are unable to get enough water across the border to be able to maintain the lakes at a level to prevent some serious issues from occurring.

These issues are being dealt with by the government in a number of areas, and the government is working hard with the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and partners to determine what are the appropriate medium and long-term management issues we need to implement to ensure that the lakes can be managed in the absence of significant rainfall. For our regional communities, we are working with the federal government to try to implement a range of measures that will certainly assist our communities through this period, and this will inevitably lead to significant change.

As part of the federal government's national plan, Water for the Future, there is a $10 billion investment in Australia's Water for the Future, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin area, and South Australia has been successful in securing $610 million. A very large component of that ($190 million) is earmarked for industry renewal and industry assistance to assist our irrigation communities through this very difficult time. It includes significant amounts of money ($80 million) towards the purchase of water, and we will be working with the irrigation communities that are most affected by this drought to develop the most appropriate response and use for that money. We will be rolling out very shortly a communications and consultation process, and we have appointed project managers to manage this project. It is absolutely crucial that these communities are involved in determining how this money is invested to ensure that they can deal with the many challenges that are facing us.

I live in the Riverland, and many of the people affected by this are my friends. It is not easy. It is not easy for anyone facing a very uncertain future. I believe it is vitally important that this state takes an approach to this issue that is responsible. The government is taking a responsible approach to it; the opposition is playing politics with it. I think it is absolutely appalling that we do not have a bipartisan approach to it, as we would with other national disasters. If we had a disaster such as a bushfire, we would all rally around our communities; if we had a flood, we would all manage to rally around our communities; and if we had a severe drought, we would rally around our dryland farming communities.

The reason we are not seeing that in this particular instance is that the opposition has its sights set firmly on the seat of Chaffey, and it will use any means within its power to undermine the political process rather than pull together as a state to fight to get a better deal. We are not seeing that from the opposition. We are not seeing the opposition do anything to assist our communities. We are not seeing the opposition put forward any constructive approach to this management issue. We are not seeing the opposition working with the communities to try to find a way forward. Rather, we are seeing constant, destructive actions by the opposition, and I find it absolutely appalling.

At a time like this, our communities need strong leadership, and they need strong leadership that will deliver a bipartisan approach to how we deal with these issues. I am calling on the opposition to put away this nonsense and this squabbling, and to put away its approach to attacking our own, instead of working together to get things better and to get a better deal at the national level. This is what we have been doing. I have been working with Malcolm Turnbull; I have been working with Penny Wong; and I have been working with our communities. I have been working with the Murray-Darling Basin partners to get rules that provide for a better outcome for our irrigators.

This water year, we have an extreme shortage of water in the system. We had an extreme shortage of water in the system last year, and we negotiated to bring forward allocations to South Australia to enable South Australian irrigators to receive 32 per cent of their allocations this year.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: If we had not negotiated that position, our irrigators would have finished the water year on 18 per cent—18 per cent is all that would have been achieved if we had not renegotiated the water sharing arrangements. I can assure the member for Hammond, who says that was only after we told them that they were going to get only 16 per cent. What a load of rot!

What a load of spin and what a load of rot! What happened was that, back in November, it rained. It actually rained in November last year, and that water was made available to irrigators as soon as it was applied to South Australia for consumptive purposes. We made it available. Back at the beginning of November we were advised by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission to prepare our communities for the fact that there may not be any more water available for allocation. That is what we were advised.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: Now, I know that the member for Hammond does not want to know this. I know that the member for Hammond does not want to know the truth. I know that the member for Hammond does not even want to have briefings on this. The member for Hammond would prefer—

Mr PEDERICK: I rise on a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The comment that I will not have briefings on this is completely untrue. It is over—

The Hon. K.A. Maywald interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: The point of order is that I have asked for briefings on various things to do with water policy that have not—

The Hon. K.A. Maywald interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Because you are basically telling an untruth.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, member for Hammond!

The Hon. K.A. Maywald interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Try No. 101. Who cares!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Hammond, if you have a point of order you make it clearly and direct it to the chair. We have already had enough problems today with debate during points of order. Can the honourable member indicate whether he believes that he has been misrepresented and whether he wishes the minister to withdraw? This is how one does it.

Mr PEDERICK: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I do believe I have been misrepresented, because I have received briefings from the minister and the minister is well aware of that. Only recently—

The Hon. K.A. Maywald: That's debate.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: This sounds like it should be a personal explanation. The member for Hammond can seek the opportunity to make a personal explanation at the conclusion of the minister's remarks.

Mr PEDERICK: Okay, no problem. I will seek leave to do that later.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: I reiterate that I have made the offer to the member for Hammond to have a briefing whenever he chooses. I do not believe he has actually made a phone call to my office in the last six months for a briefing.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: If he has, I am unaware of it, but I am certain that he has not—

Mr Pederick: It might not have been in the last six months.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: 'Might not have been in the last six months'—did you hear that? 'It might not have been in the last six months'—okay, all right, well maybe it's five months, but it has not been in recent times. I have not had a question or an invitation from the member for Hammond to brief him on this in several months, and I think it goes back beyond six months since I last briefed him. I am not certain. We can check on that. I can assure you, however, that I would be, as a local member, seeking a briefing every single month. I would want to be up-to-date. I would want to know what is going on. I would be wanting to get my point across on a regular basis to the minister. I would be wanting to ensure that I had accurate information to take back to my community. That has not occurred.

Motion carried.

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