Forest Water Licensing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:25): Supplementary: given his answer, can the minister advise the council whether the charges that are going to come in to the Western and Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island and other areas for irrigators will only be charged on the basis of the amount of water they use each year and not their allocation, and what will be the situation with forestry, where they actually do not pump water so the water cannot be metered? Will they be charged a flat rate each year on their allocation?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:26): The very complicated question does not really arise from the answer, but I will attempt to hazard a response for the member. First of all, we need to consult with the communities involved before we make these decisions. That is the primary thing. We had a very long, deep and broad engagement strategy with stakeholders in the South-East. I expect that we will go through the same process in other forestry areas.

In terms of how this was arranged, of course, we cannot meter what forests take out of the groundwater through the roots, but it can be modelled. It can be modelled scientifically, and that is what we did in the South-East. Those scientific results were argued over at great length and compromise positions were reached but, at the end of the day, you have commercial forests that take water out of the system that are not included in the sustainable water-use regime that is applied to other irrigators—in fact, other water users. We must consider the commercial forests if they are significant water users because they have an impact on the water resource that other industries use, such as irrigation that the honourable member mentioned—indeed, even mining or manufacturing in the appropriate area. So, it is not fair to have one industry not part of that sustainable water-use regime whilst all the others are, but we will always have a very thorough consultation process when we embark on this exercise in a new community or a new region.