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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-10-13 Daily Xml
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Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:17): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister outline how the South Australian government is securing and building infrastructure investments for the future as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (15:17): It's great to have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —a question from the member for Chaffey on the Murray-Darling Basin. I don't get any from the other side on the Murray-Darling Basin.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I don't hear much, so it's really good to have members on this side who actually care about the Murray-Darling Basin—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —who care about the delivery of environmental water and, importantly, who care about the resilience and sustainability of the reaches of the river within South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It was great to be able to work alongside federal Minister for Water, Keith Pitt, to make an announcement earlier in the year in early September that again we will see a significant injection of funding to undertake a whole range of projects in the South Australian reaches of the Murray-Darling Basin and this is a direct result—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for a second time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —of us being able to work with the federal government, rather than scream from the sidelines and rather than try to derail the Murray-Darling Basin Plan—

Mr Picton: Capitulate.

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —for cheap political points and media releases. We actually sit down with our colleagues in the federal government, not just in my portfolio but in the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport's portfolio—we have just seen the fruits of that—the Minister for Energy's portfolio and the Minister for Education's. Many of the ministers on this side of the house are working on a daily basis with our federal colleagues in a cooperative relationship that is delivering for South Australia, and that is exactly what we are seeing with regard to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

There will be $37 million coming towards beneficial infrastructure that will improve the resilience of the river's environment and will go towards projects that will assist the survival and the health of the anabranches, particularly of the river in the Riverland area of South Australia, to provide sustainability around native fish populations because we know how important those are and what an indicator they are of the overall health of the river. Again and again, examples keep on coming of how our cooperative relationship is delivering for the river.

We saw over $70 million set aside to undertake works in the Coorong. We set up the Coorong Partnership, a group of local stakeholders who are working alongside my department and me in my role as minister, to drive forward projects—both scientific research projects and practical and environmental projects on the ground, and potentially infrastructure projects down the track—to drive the sustainability of those fragile areas.

We believe in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Even though much of the basin over recent months or recent years has been gripped by drought, we have seen the river in South Australia, the Lower Lakes and the Coorong, remain relatively healthy and retain a relative level of resilience in the face of that upstream drought. And why is that? That is because we have the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in place. Those opposite want to destroy that plan. They want to blow it up. They have said that publicly. They want to tear it down, and that puts at risk all the environmental water—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: They are not trying to fight for the 450 in any way. They want a cheap media release—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Playford will leave for 30 minutes under 137A.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —a cheap, lazy, media release—

The SPEAKER: The minister will pause for a moment.

The honourable member for Playford having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Environment and Water has the call.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will wind up by reiterating that it is only this side of the house—by cooperating with other jurisdictions, by working with the federal government and ignoring the virtuous signalling, the gestures, the media releases and the slogans and logos from the other side—that will deliver for the Murray-Darling Basin and its irrigation communities.

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