South-East Drainage System

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation questions about the review into drainage in the South-East.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The minister was in the South-East—I think it was on 8 October—where he announced that a citizens' jury would be assembled with the assistance of consulting group newDemocracy, to manage the public consultation in regard to the proposed drainage levy. My questions are:

1. Given that many landholders in the drainage area are opposed to any form of levy, why is this citizens' jury being assembled?

2. How much will this process cost and where will the funds be coming from?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. I am only wondering how he knew about my trip to the South-East.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: You sent out a media release. We keep track of you.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Yes, but you never read them; you never read them at all.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: I do. I read them every morning.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Do you? Bless you. The Hon. Michelle Lensink is showing at least a level of interest in the important work of government. I commend her for that. The agricultural productivity of a significant portion of the South-East Natural Resources Management Region is supported by an extensive drainage network which includes more than 2,500 kilometres of public and private drains and floodways and associated infrastructure. This drainage infrastructure assists in addressing agricultural flooding across the relatively flat topography of the South-East region and plays a key role in ameliorating dryland salinity in the Upper South-East.

The drainage network is currently managed and operated by the South-Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board, which operates under the South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Act 1992. The board manages the drainage network to address the issues of flooding and dryland salinity, as I said, and to meet the environmental water requirements of wetlands that are connected to the drainage network.

The South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board balances landholder concerns and the needs of the environment in determining the most appropriate method to use to maintain Eight Mile Creek and drainage flows. It is important that landholders recognise that the South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board has obligations as outlined in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and which must be taken into account for the maintenance of Eight Mile Creek and the drainage system.

It is very important that government continues to listen to local advice on drainage matters, and I have demonstrated this through the requests I have made to the South-East Natural Resources Management Board to initiate a community panel to investigate funding models for the ongoing maintenance and operation of the South-East drainage network. The Hon. Mr Stephens is quite correct: last week on 8 and 9 October I visited the South-East and met with members of the South-Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board and the South-East Natural Resources Management Board, as well as many stakeholders, to discuss the establishment of the community panel. After a prolonged period of discussion and exploring numerous options for the drainage network funding it was decided that the local community would be best placed to explore sustainable long-term options.

Setting up and running of the community panel will be funded through the South-East NRM Board from an allocation of the regional NRM levy. It is expected that the selection process, I am told, for the community panel will begin in the coming weeks. This will involve ensuring that the make-up of the panel reflects the general make-up of the population of the South-East.

I reflected at the meeting that, in doing this the newDemocracy organisation is incredibly independent. They are so independent that, when I opened their last community panel, which was held in the Adelaide Town Hall, I think, about violence in Hindley Street and some of the problems associated with it, I noticed present in the audience the chief of communications from the opposition leader's office, and he was selected to be part of that process. So that just gives you an indication of how fiercely independent they are. They sent out invitations to around 7,000 people and they will circulate those numbers again in the South-East to members in the community, inviting them to register their interest to be part of the panel. I fully expect that the process will be just as independent as the previous one.

So a group of potential members will then be selected from the responses received using a scientifically approved statistical method, very similar to that used in selecting a jury, I understand. It is hoped that the selection process will be completed by December, and the community panel is expected to undertake its deliberations over three weekends in late January, February and March next year.

Once the panel has concluded its deliberations it will present its recommendations to the state government for consideration. Importantly, the panel's findings and recommendations will be complemented by the board's South-East drainage and wetlands strategy, and guide the future management of water in the drainage system. I have undertaken to take the recommendations of the panel to cabinet, to table it in parliament and to publicly respond in parliament to their recommendations.

I am confident that the solutions posed or brought up by the panel will be fair and equitable. It also will have of course, I hope, the support of the broader community because the panel has been selected from the broader community as opposed to just from those of the government or one any industry might pick. It is a much more independent process that nobody can control.