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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-19 Daily Xml
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Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:36): My question is again to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister advise which big water users will be targeted to get more water for the Murray-Darling Basin? On 9 June, the Minister for Environment and Water stated that big Adelaide water users would be targeted to get more water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:36): I thank the deputy leader for her question. At the recent ministerial council, an agreement was forged between the commonwealth and the states to establish a way forward to reaching the 450 gigalitres of environmental flows to the River Murray. We know across both sides of this house that that 450 gigalitres is absolutely fundamental to the fulfilment of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the preservation of the health of the River Murray, particularly the Lower Lakes, the river mouth and the Coorong.

In the discussions with other jurisdictions, it became apparent that low-hanging fruit around urban water, industrial users and off-farm measures were what the first effort to gain that 450 gigalitres would be focused on. But we also know that 450 gigalitres, the vast majority of it, does not need to come from South Australia, given our geographical position at the bottom end of the river.

Any focus on the delivery of additional water from South Australian users to make up our small contribution would be around looking at urban water opportunities. That could look at anything from stormwater harvesting to additional desalination opportunities to enable the delivery of—again, I emphasise—our small contribution towards environmental flows from the River Murray.

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