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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-03-06 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Commissioner for the River Murray in South Australia, Resignation

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Workforce and Population Strategy) (14:07): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: It is with some personal sadness, but deep appreciation for what he has accomplished, that I rise to advise the house that Mr Richard Beasley SC is concluding his term as Commissioner for the River Murray in South Australia. In seeking to establish the role of commissioner soon after coming to office, the South Australian government had been clear about the need to stand up again for South Australia's interests in respect of the River Murray and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

While the role of commissioner was not necessarily conceived with one person in mind, there can be no doubt that Mr Beasley was uniquely qualified to fill this post. Building on a commitment to appoint an 'eminent jurist', the government wanted a commissioner who could navigate the worlds of both law and politics, as well as the court of public opinion. We wanted someone who could raise the profile of the River Murray at the national level but also raise hell if necessary. We therefore needed someone with a strong national reputation on this cause of vital national importance. Thankfully, in Mr Beasley we found just such a person.

As many of you would know, Mr Beasley came to the role having served as counsel assisting the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission under Mr Bret Walker AO SC. Mr Beasley joined the royal commission on the strength of his reputation, among other things, as a respected lawyer and Senior Counsel specialising in environmental issues.

Having also written five novels—including Hell Has Harbour Views, as well as a very angry book about the environmental degradation of the Murray-Darling Basin, Dead in the Water—I trust no-one here has been surprised by the cut-through or the passion or the erudite flair that Mr Beasley has brought to his follow-up role as inaugural River Murray commissioner.

Regrettably, Mr Beasley's second act on the River Murray was very much needed. The preceding term of government in South Australia had seen little progress against the commonwealth's commitment to recover the final 450 gigalitres under the basin plan, a commitment that had been secured by the Weatherill government back in 2012. This final 450 gigalitres of environmental water recovery was established as a strict volumetric target under the basin plan, and there was a commonwealth statutory commitment to recover it by mid-2024. However, by the end of the previous term of government in South Australia, only two gigalitres had been registered against the final 450 gigalitres.

Echoing Mr Beasley, the basin plan was, at that time, all but dead in the water. This simply was not acceptable to the incoming state government or to the people of South Australia, and a new model for influencing national opinion and decision-making was needed. At stake was the need to lock in volumes of basin plan water recovery that would, in line with the best science, futureproof River Murray and basin communities against a return of the devastating environmental impacts we saw during the Millennium Drought.

Given the mounting risks we face with a changing climate, there is absolutely no room for complacency on this issue. As such, I could not be more pleased with what Mr Beasley has achieved in just over two and a half years as Commissioner for the River Murray in South Australia. During his time as commissioner, Mr Beasley has been prolific as a source of independent commentary and advice on matters basin plan, and he has continued to build strong relationships with key stakeholders and scientific experts across the basin.

Mr Beasley's advice has been gratefully received within state government and he has been a truly invaluable asset for all those basin stakeholders who generally sought an 'environmentally sustainable level of take' within the basin. In this respect, a key highlight was Mr Beasley's participation in three forums hosted by the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance on the health of the Murray-Darling Basin in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne in 2023.

As the responsible South Australian minister, I have also found Mr Beasley to be an incredibly effective and resourceful partner in reprosecuting the case for full basin plan delivery at the national level. As is well known, his advocacy helped to secure the passage of the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023 under Tanya Plibersek's strong leadership. This bill will be seen by future generations as an important milestone in basin plan delivery, and Mr Beasley deserves credit for his tireless advocacy in support of the bill both behind the scenes and in public.

It is also true that the passage of the bill effectively marked the end of the beginning for the next phase of work to recover the final 450 gigalitres under the basin plan. It is one thing to have the right legislative framework in place, but of course a great deal depended on how this framework was to be used over the next four years to the end of 2027. It is therefore fitting that I can announce Mr Beasley's resignation from the role of commissioner on the same day that we have the news that, as a result of all the water recovery efforts to date, the commonwealth is now on track to secure 286 gigalitres against the 450 gigalitres target. This is indeed great news for the Murray-Darling Basin and for the River Murray in South Australia.

Today's news only adds to Mr Beasley's legacy. And, so, Richard, on behalf of every Australian with an interest in the health of the basin, I thank you for what you have accomplished in your tireless work as River Murray commissioner. May your next book on the River Murray be less angry.

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