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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-27 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:08): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: On 22 November the future health of the River Murray took a major step forward with the release of the Murray-Darling Basin plan by the federal water minister. It represents the most fundamental change for good in the river for decades. It means future generations will not have to deal with the twin effects of overallocation and drought that inflicted so much damage on our state recently.

No longer will we need to build a weir to flood the Lower Lakes with sea water to protect Adelaide's water supply. No longer will we need to put vast quantities of limestone into the Lower Lakes to stop them turning acid—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No longer will we be preparing to provide bottled water to country towns because salinity was making water unusable. No longer will we try to find if we could get 10 gigalitres of water from our urban aquifers because we did not have enough water for Adelaide for the next 12 months. No longer will we be closing communities for fear of riverbank collapse. No longer will our irrigators feel they are being punished for implementing good irrigation practices before the other states. No longer will we need to feel angry because other states do not want the Lower Lakes to have more water.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, the basin plan that came into effect last week is a much better plan than the draft released for comment in November 2011, a full year ago. Importantly, it is a plan that we can now support.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will be heard in silence. There is too much noise coming from the floor.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is a plan that we can now support and that is no accident. For a full year, South Australia has waged one of the most important battles in the state's history. We engaged irrigators, conservation groups, communities from city and country and from the Riverland to the Lower Lakes. We engaged scientific experts to independently verify the science that has guided our decision-making. We established a dedicated taskforce to analyse the technical details, support our negotiations and assist our communications. We engaged a legal team to prepare for a High Court challenge if it had become necessary. We launched a fight for the Murray campaign that gained rapid community support and helped to ensure that the voice of our state was heard loudly in Canberra. What we have achieved is a win for the entire basin, but especially a win for South Australia.

The basin plan we now have sets down 450 billion litres of water more than the 2,750 billion litres initially proposed to be recovered, a total of 3,200 billion litres more water for the environment. The outcome this extra water will help to deliver is now written into the basin plan. The funding needed to achieve these outcomes will now be locked in through commonwealth legislation. There is also now $265 million in funding for water recovery and industry regeneration in South Australia's River Murray communities and a $155 million investment in environmental infrastructure to improve the health of River Murray flood plains.

I want to express my thanks to every South Australian who has joined our fight for the Murray, the public servants who have worked tirelessly, the river champions who advocated so strongly and the community who so enthusiastically embraced our campaign. There remains only one thing to do before we can get on with the task at hand, our federal parliament must accept the plan and supporting legislation. While I noted news this morning that gives us increasing confidence that this will be the case, I ask all members of this house to impress the need for this upon our federal colleagues.

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