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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-02 Daily Xml
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Wastewater Allocations

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:31): The Labor government has left the local horticultural industry in a state of absolute limbo. The arrogance and incompetence of both minister Hunter and minister Bignell is once again on display for all South Australians to witness. The Labor government has made a complete mess of the Northern Adelaide Irrigation Scheme proposal. Following the recent floods in the northern Adelaide Plains region, at a time when over 300 local growers are recovering from a $60 million loss in produce, the Labor government has nothing with which to provide security for the local industry.

On the contrary, the Labor government has caused a great deal of uncertainty and angst among the local horticultural industry. The proposal seeks to unlock 20 gigalitres of additional water from the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant. The opposition strongly supports the principle of making this additional water available to the horticultural industry but not in the way the Labor government intends. Access to additional water needs to be fair and equitable. Local existing growers should have equal access rights under any proposal.

Through SA Water, the Labor government has progressed to a feasibility stage a proposal from a Spanish consortium. This proposal will apparently create up to 1,000 hectares of new greenhouses and apparently all the additional produce is set for export markets. What a load of rubbish! The local horticultural industry is very concerned and rightly so. There is no way to ensure that 100 per cent of this new greenhouse produce is exported. In an ABC radio interview on 5 October, minister Bignell conceded that no new export markets had been identified. The reporter asked the minister:

Are there any direct markets or perhaps new lines that have been opened up that will mitigate some of the issues that were raised there?

'No,' was the reply from the minister. The incompetence of minister Bignell is well and truly on display for our horticultural industry to see. The local industry is rightly very concerned about this proposal and the lack of plans from the Minister for Agriculture.

I have been contacted by a number of horticultural groups, including AUSVEG SA, the Horticultural Coalition and HortEx Alliance, expressing deep concerns, and they have written to minister Hunter and minister Bignell as well. The local industry has not been consulted and they are deeply concerned about their future. Under this proposal, if this additional produce cannot be exported, it will further saturate domestic markets, forcing local and existing growers out of business and costing local jobs.

The Labor government is very happy to puff its chest and talk about the potential of new jobs to be created under this proposal, but what is the point of creating new jobs if it is at the expense of existing local jobs, which would effectively result in a net gain of zero jobs? AUSVEG SA are so concerned that they have launched their own campaign, #saveourfoodbowl. AUSVEG SA are also in the process of conducting a survey with the local industry. This is a work in progress but I understand that, to date, local existing businesses have put their hands up for at least 5 gigalitres in additional water allocations. They believe this would result in $130 million of investment in our local economy and create an additional 500 jobs. Yet this continues to fall on deaf ears. The Labor government refuses to listen.

Local growers in the Northern Adelaide Plains are still recovering from the recent devastating flood and they will be for many months and years to come as they continue to clean up their properties and start work on decontaminating their soils and freshening up their soil. The future for some growers is very uncertain, to say the least. It is irresponsible and reckless for this government to create even more uncertainty for these growers, cause them more anguish and more stress at a time when they need support and reassurance.

We have had zero representation from the Labor government and their local member for Taylor, Ms Leesa Vlahos. In fact, she is a member of cabinet these days, so not even a cabinet minister is showing any interest. She has remained silent on this proposal and refuses to stand up for the community that she represents. This is what she was elected to do: she was elected to stand up for her local community. It appears that the local member is happy to sit by and let her cabinet colleagues progress a proposal that could destroy the local Virginia horticultural industry, an industry which has long formed the backbone of the Virginia region and her electorate. I dare say, the electorate will have something to say about this in the 2018 election.

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