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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-06-21 Daily Xml
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Murray-Darling Basin Plan

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Will the minister please update the council on the progress of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. He is right on the money here; it is a very topical question because last week the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council met in Canberra to progress the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The ministerial council met a week after the Council of Australian Governments' meeting in Hobart, which endorsed an implementation plan for delivering the full basin plan as called for by the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, the member for Cheltenham.

The historic basin plan agreed to in 2012 requires water recovery outcomes equivalent to 3,200 gigalitres per annum by 2024. On the agenda for this ministerial council were the sustainable diversion limit projects and constraints projects. These projects form a package of measures which will achieve up to 650 gigalitres of water offsets and form part of a larger package to deliver 3,200 gigalitres of water for the long-term health of the Murray. South Australia has been monitoring this part of the basin plan for many years because we want to ensure that there are no adverse impacts on South Australia's reliability and storage right as a result of the package of measures being put up by the Eastern States. Simply, we want to ensure that South Australia gets its fair share and that our community is protected.

At Friday's meeting, ministers endorsed a package of credible environmental projects, recognising that they will help meet the basin plan water recovery target and overcome physical and other constraints in delivering environmental water. This was an important step. With the SDL package and constraints now endorsed by the ministerial council, all basin states and the commonwealth can turn their full attention to the next important element of the basin plan. The Premier and I have been consistent advocates for the basin states and the commonwealth government to deliver the final 450 gigalitres of water that was promised in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on time and in full.

The final 450 gigalitres is absolutely essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of the river. It is what scientists say is necessary to reduce salinity in the Coorong and the Lower Lakes and increase flows to the Coorong to ensure the ongoing health of the internationally renowned Ramsar site. This water is needed now just as much as it was in 2012 when this historic agreement was signed. Despite the improvement in flows to the Murray over the last 12 months, dredging of the Murray Mouth is continuing in the Goolwa and Tauwitchere channels to maintain connectivity between the Coorong and the Southern Ocean.

To date, almost two million cubic metres of sand, I am advised, has been removed from the channel since January 2015, so any suggestion that we no longer need this water for the environment is simply wrong. The basin plan is as crucial today as it was the day it was agreed to by all states and the commonwealth. The ministerial council, on Friday, also heard a brief update from Ernst & Young, which has been commissioned by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to undertake independent analysis of how best to recover this final 450 gigalitres of water. The ministerial council was briefed on the progress of that work and should have a completed report to the authority and the council by the end of this year.

That report will inform the commonwealth government how to ensure that it delivers a Murray-Darling Basin Plan on time and in full, a commitment the South Australian government has and will remain steadfast to. That is because South Australians understand how important the Murray is to their livelihoods and we also understand how important it is for critical human needs. I expect the commonwealth and all states will now prioritise the basin plan's only remaining water recovery requirement: the final 450 gigalitres by 2024. We will be unwavering in our support for this 450 gigalitres of recovery.

The key industry groups and stakeholders who are concerned about this commitment that was given by Mr Joyce and the commonwealth government on the progress towards achieving the 3,200-gigalitre basin plan will need to be watching incredibly carefully over the coming years on how the final 450 gigalitres is approached. I understand the coalition of 22 environmental, Indigenous and community groups have called on all governments to implement the plan, particularly the 450-gigalitre component.

The South Australian government is very pleased to have their support in making sure that Deputy Prime Minister Mr Barnaby Joyce and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull understand how crucial the basin plan is for not just the health of the river, of course, but for the health of all the communities up and down the river that rely on it.

We will keep pushing the Eastern States to work up their plans for the remaining 450 gigalitres of upwater necessary to protect our precious river. We will be unstinting in our efforts and also unstinting in our offers of assistance to New South Wales and Victoria in particular on how to construct positive plans that will be not just environmentally or socio-economically neutral but beneficial for local communities, help create employment and return water to that river.

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