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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-14 Daily Xml
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WATER PRICING

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:28): The spirit of all South Australians was lifted when it started to rain a couple of weeks ago. Prolonged drought, failing crops, dying trees and gardens have all taken their toll. The people I have talked to have, however, long since had enough of water restrictions. The rainfall we received two weekends ago now was, we hope, the beginning of a better time. At the very worst it will buy our food producers a pause and keep their livestock alive; but, most importantly, it rekindles hope.

As I speak, all over South Australia's grain belt seeding is underway—some have even finished. In our grazing areas dam levels are being reassessed and pasture prospects estimated in the hope that stock levels can be increased again. In rural South Australia every drop which is possible to be used will be used carefully to benefit us all, but it is a very different story in our cities. Two weekends ago I watched as stormwater gushed from pipes in the seawall, running across the beach and into the gulf. At hundreds of outfalls, both natural and man made, from Aldinga to Two Wells, this story was repeated.

It might be news to this house, but generally speaking, save at elections, South Australians are less concerned with which party is in government than what sort of job it is doing. Quite frankly, after seven years, especially on water issues, the Rann government has been found wanting. Thinking South Australians watched the water pouring into drains, as well as the images of the trickle that is currently the Murray below Lock 1 on our TV screens just a week before. We were all appalled. Let me remind the house that the Rann government assumed office at the pleasure of the then member for Hammond after the 1993 election.

Prior to that election, premier Olsen had introduced a specific minister for water who enclosed the last open irrigation channels in pipes, negotiated a successful outcome with the over-allocated Willunga wells users, prescribed most of the state's resources and initiated a number of education programs, such as the Save the Murray sky show, and the animated TV ads featuring university professor Mike Tyler. This side of the house went to that election with a commitment to waterproof the City of Adelaide and its environs.

Importantly, we promised to deliver on the commitment before the state election in 2007. All this was done against a background in which we had continued to receive above entitlement flows within our sector of the Murray-Darling Basin. The Rann government chose its own direction. In a case of 'back to the future', the water ministry, with its focused responsibility for the resources, was fractured. At the very time when we need it most, and to see its management needing particular attention, it disappeared in the name of holistic management within the Department for Environment and Heritage. And, just so we did not worry, the River Murray Act was enacted. This act gives the responsible minister powers similar to one of the god kings of old. The minister has almost absolute power to approve or disapprove anything in connection with either the river or the surrounding areas. But (and I am sure that the minister will correct me if I am wrong) these powers have rarely, if ever, been invoked.

As I have come to expect of the good time girls and guys opposite, it is yet another case of plenty of smoke and even more mirrors. It is the work, not the words, of the government that will be judged at the next election. Actions always speak louder than words.

In water, at least, there will be very little to be judged. We have the landmark COAG agreement, which was—what was it again—the most important initiative since Federation? In the event, it was little more than business as usual, with all the faults of the old system and no way forward—so much so that now the state government is committed (or is it) to taking an action in the High Court.

The government's record in the area of stormwater collection and harvesting is nothing short of appalling. We have had almost eight years of drought, but even this time we have not been without rain. Last year, for instance, from memory, we received 15 of the normal 21 inches in the city. Despite visible proof of the success of stormwater recovery and aquifer storage demonstrated by the City of Salisbury (and on a smaller scale by the SAJC, the Port Adelaide Enfield Council and others) the government continues to find more reasons to do nothing—and doing nothing is something it has perfected as an art form.

A few weeks ago, the Attorney-General rang FIVEaa and asserted that those who suggested using rainwater were imperilling the health of the population and were irresponsible. I wonder whether he has considered where the local catchments which fill our reservoirs are, and whether Canberra and the regional cities of the Murray-Darling Basin catchment discharge not only their stormwater but also their sewage into the river on which we rely.

Normally, I would be happy to sit back and let the electors decide at the next election. However, another year of wasted time is a luxury that I believe we can no longer afford. It is time for members of the government to prise their backsides off the green benches opposite and experience something new. They might try something good. God knows, we need it!

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