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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-30 Daily Xml
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MURRAY RIVER MARINA STRATEGY

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:31): My question is to the Minister for Urban Development and Planning. Can the minister provide an update on the state government's response to public consultation sought on its houseboat mooring and marina strategy?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:31): Last October, the government published a draft houseboat mooring and marina strategy for the River Murray in South Australia for three months of public consultation. This consultative period included public meetings in Berri, Waikerie and Murray Bridge to allow people to speak to their submissions and seek further information about the proposed strategy. The key elements of this draft included: encouraging the development of off-river marinas to provide home ports for all houseboats; provision of site suitability criteria to ascertain the best locations for such marinas; and trialling a formal mooring network for touring houseboats to minimise river damage. Following this extensive consultative process, the government received a number of submissions, including submissions from the houseboat industry and local government.

Last month, I announced, in response to the submissions from the industry and community, that the government has decided to amend its strategy. To this end, the Department of Planning and Local Government will begin work on finalising the strategy for marinas. This will be achieved through a ministerial development plan amendment process that will include further opportunities for consultation with local councils and communities along the South Australian section of the River Murray. This process will allow the government to work closely with local government and the industry to identify potential areas suited for marinas.

The DPA will then allow the government to develop planning policies against which future development applications can be assessed and approved. At the same time, the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation is to undertake further work to redevelop the houseboat and mooring elements of the strategy. In particular, operators have been advised, through the consultation process, that requiring vessels to be tied up in designated spots overnight would potentially damage the intrinsic tourism attraction of renting a houseboat for a river holiday. They have also outlined concerns regarding other aspects of the policy for houseboats.

This government wants to work with the industry and the community to improve the ecological health of the River Murray by reducing some of the environmental impacts of houseboats, large vessels, various mooring practices and marinas, and we want to facilitate a more sustainable houseboat tourism industry, thereby supporting and enhancing this industry and associated local economic opportunities. The state government aims to achieve these objectives by improving the quality of the houseboat fleet, facilitating improved infrastructure and facilities for the industry and users, and protecting and enhancing the landscape values of the river.

The government is aware of the challenges facing the River Murray community, especially during this prolonged drought. One of the things we can do is encourage more investment in industries along the river that do not heavily rely on irrigation and water allocations but rather the intrinsic beauty of this important waterway.

South Australia's houseboat industry relies for its economic survival on retaining the character and natural environment of the River Murray. Encouraging industry to grow and develop will hopefully lead to increased investment in construction of new marinas and support services. We do not want to force existing marinas and houseboat operators off the river and out of business, but we do want to grow this important part of South Australia's tourism industry to provide even more jobs and more opportunities.

This marina strategy is not just wishful thinking. Developers are already looking to invest in the River Murray, with the state government last year providing conditional approval to a new residential marina development at Mannum in the mid-Murray as a major project (as I indicated in my answer to the previous question), for which a full and rather lengthy EIS was prepared. This residential marina project, proposed by Tallwood Pty Ltd, involves an initial investment of $15 million, which is expected to grow to $165 million once the project is fully constructed.

The Mannum Waters development sets a new benchmark for best practice marina and residential developments along the River Murray and is consistent with the marina strategy that we will continue to develop through the DPA process. This project shows that water quality can be safeguarded by providing secure houseboat moorings off-river and by adopting comprehensive waste water collection and spill containment.

Work associated with the marina project will also enhance stormwater and waste water treatment in the Mannum area and reduce pollution and improve the quality of inflows into the River Murray, something that the government hopes to replicate with other projects permissible under our marina strategy. Incidentally, to follow up on my answer to the last question, once you have the strategy and a development plan clearly defined, that will mean that they will not need to use the major project process as the first one required, which set the standards, and local government will be able to assess them. I think that is a very useful illustration to the previous question.

While the initial consideration of the Mannum Waters project pre-dates the draft marina strategy, many of the issues covered in the assessment process supported the development of a consistent strategy for the houseboat industry. I look forward to working with councils and the houseboat industry along the river to further develop the marina strategy.

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