Water Pricing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change, and everything else, questions about ripping off irrigators with water levies.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: It has been reported recently that the Western Mount Lofty Ranges, through their water allocation plan, will now not be charged a water levy, something that I personally strongly agree with. However, that means that there is a dilemma for all those other irrigators in their WAPs where there will be a new water levy coming in for the first time in the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges. We have irrigators in the water allocation plan around the Tintinara area of the South-East, some of whom are now being charged up to $10,000 a year in water levies.

As a further explanation to assist our illustrious minister, I advise that apparently there is a test case about council rates and the fact that through valuations we as irrigators—and I declare that I am one—are already paying the water levy through the capital value of the Valuer-General's department to the council rates and, therefore, the government cannot double charge. My questions are:

1. Is that accurate?

2. What is the minister doing to ensure that farmers are not further ripped off by this government with these outrageous water levies through the NRM?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for his most important question, although teasing out the facts of the matter from the stochastic ramblings of his mind is always very difficult. However, I will attempt to do that for him.

Eight regional natural resources management boards contribute to the management of South Australia's natural resources. The Natural Resources Management Act of 2004 enables the NRM boards to be funded through water-based natural resources management levies. Holders of a water licence or imported water permit or persons who are authorised to take water under the NRM act are liable to pay an NRM water levy. An NRM water levy is collected by the department on behalf of the boards, and six of the eight NRM boards collect water-based levies.

The NRM act provides a number of options for collecting NRM water levies, as I have explained in this place previously, including a fixed charge, a rate on the quantity of water allocated, the quantity of water that has been taken, and the quantity of water used or a combination of these options. It is left up to the board to do that in consultation with its local communities. The NRM act provides that a levy cannot be imposed under this section with respect to the taking of water for stock and/or domestic purposes—and I think we have thrashed out that position in here many times. I am told that the water levies for 2014-15 were gazetted on 29 May 2014.

For the first time a water levy will apply to the holders of forest water licences on the Lower Limestone Coast Prescribed Wells Area, and that is a magnificent achievement of this government and this parliament. The levy is consistent with the volumetric rate that applies to water allocations for irrigation in the Lower Limestone Coast, and I understand that this is an initiative that jurisdictions elsewhere are looking at and will probably be implementing, because that is a requirement of our national agreements. The forest water levy will help fund South-East NRM Board programs and activities that assist in the sustainable management of the water resources in the region for the benefit of all water users, as indeed do levies across all the boards in all the regions.