Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-08-07 Daily Xml

Contents

Water Pricing

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:19): Supplementary, Mr President. The minister said there will be variations or differences in set fees. I asked the question, I think earlier in the week, around the $2.67 per kilolitre for forestry users, which is the charge for their allocations. If a landowner has a right to a certain number of kilolitres, what is the charge per kilolitre? Is that the same across the entire region and, if not, why not?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:20): The fees are set by the NRM board and NRM boards are designed to respond to local communities and local geographic and climatic conditions and the sorts of crops that are grown in those areas. NRM boards set those fees and they set them in consultation with their stakeholders (the landowners) and they are different from region to region. That takes into account the regional differences between what is grown in those regions and the water allocations that are available based on the sustainability of the water resource.