Save the River Murray Fund

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray a question about the Save the River Murray Fund.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Members from regional South Australia have shown concerns about the Save the River Murray Fund which equates to $2 million of annual funding. Section 94(4) of the Water Industry Act 2012 states that the money paid into the Save the River Murray Fund will be applied by the River Murray minister towards programs and measures to:

(i) improve and promote the environment and health of the River Murray; or

(ii) ensure the adequacy, security and quality of the State's water supply from the River Murray...

However, the 2014-15 budget shows that the $2 million Save the River Murray funding will fund key regional initiatives in 2014-15. My questions are:

1. Can the minister explain why the Save the River Murray funding will now be allocated to key regional initiatives?

2. Can the minister advise the council why the $2 million annual funding for the River Murray is no longer required?

3. With the Save the River Murray funding allocated to improve the health of the river and to secure the quality of the water supply for the state of South Australia, can the minister confidently say that the River Murray is in good health? If not, how does the government intend to improve the health of the River Murray with the allocated funding now being withdrawn?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:15): I thank the Hon. Ms Lee, who has for several days now been carrying the load for the Liberal Party. She is in this chamber working very hard when the others don't even turn up. She is there day after day carrying the burden.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Point of order, Mr President.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I think that she shows great aptitude for taking on the burdens of leadership on the opposition benches in the very near future.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Mr President, one of the members has been trying to make a point of order for the last minute.

The PRESIDENT: Point of order.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: My point of order is that another member was trying to make a point of order, but you were on the phone and not paying attention.

The PRESIDENT: Very well observed, member; very good contribution. The minister.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Vincent.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Gosh, we're getting into the silly season early, aren't we? I remind the minister that it is unparliamentary to make reference to the absence of members from the chamber.

The PRESIDENT: Point taken. The minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Oh, we're ready, Mr President? Thank you. Sir, I stand much chagrined and accepting of the admonishments of the chamber in this regard, But, of course, that doesn't diminish my great respect for the work ethic of the Hon. Ms Lee and her shouldering the burden for those absent members who I shall not be mentioning in this place.

As part of the establishment of Regions SA, $2 million of annual funding has been allocated from the Save the River Murray Fund. Whilst this quantum of funding has been transferred from the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources—and I don't blame the Hon. Ms Lee for not knowing that; she probably hasn't been told by those slacker members on the frontbenches of the Liberal opposition—it has always been acknowledged that proposed funding would need to meet requirements under the Water Industry Act.

Section 94 of the act requires funds from the Save the River Murray Fund to be applied to programs and measures that either improve and promote the environmental health of the River Murray or ensure the adequacy, security and quality of the state's water supply. In addition, as the act is committed to me as Minister for Water and the River Murray, I approve all proposed expenditure from the fund, in accordance with those requirements.

With this in mind, the Minister for Regional Development and I will work together to ensure Regions SA's funding proposals from the $2 million allocation meet relevant requirements. It is important to understand, of course, that it was these people opposite, members of the Liberal Party, who took the Save the River Murray levy off people in this state who are not directly connected. They argued that, if they didn't directly benefit, they should not be paying to support and save the River Murray and, of course, the parliament supported the position.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Good decision.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Mr Brokenshire might want to eat his words because, of course, this puts the Liberal Party in a bit of a quandary because their argument was that those who were not directly benefiting from the River Murray should not be paying to support and to save the River Murray but, at the moment, we have the member for MacKillop in the other place arguing just the opposite in regard to the drainage system and the levy the government wants to propose. They are saying, 'We think that, even though this drainage system benefits those of us who grow produce down in the South-East, the whole state should be paying to support the system.'

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: That's what the Hon. Mr Brokenshire does: he comes in here with hypocritical statements at every level. He doesn't care about consistency. He adopts the Oscar Wilde approach and says that 'consistency is the last refuge of the boring and uninteresting'. Well, I can say here today that that is not the case from our perspective.

The Save the River Murray Fund and levy were established in 2003 and contribute to the River Murray improvement programs. The River Murray improvement programs improve and promote the environment to health of the River Murray in South Australia for all South Australians, ensuring the adequacy, security and quality of the state's water supply. The River Murray improvement program is integrated within a larger Murray-Darling Basin improvement program and involves a series of works and measures, the South Australian River Murray salinity strategy and the South Australian environmental flow strategy for the River Murray amongst them.

The range of programs that fall within the River Murray improvement program that were funded in 2013-14 total $24.8 million. These programs include a contribution to South Australia's payment to the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the purchase of environmental water, upgrade of waste disposal stations, hazard management planning and the implementation of SA Murray Darling Basin water allocation plans. According to the Liberals, and according to the Hon. Mr Brokenshire, none of that is worthwhile—they want to get rid of it.