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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-11-17 Daily Xml
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South-East Water Allocation Plan

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:17): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray questions about the South-East water allocation plan.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The excellent and hardworking member for MacKillop has brought to my attention that a number of irrigators in his electorate were unaware that they were required to make an application for licence delivery components, notwithstanding that the additional allocation is a right under the WAP.

As a result, these irrigators are concerned about their ability to irrigate legally and still produce, especially considering that the South-East is currently in drought and Mount Gambier recorded its driest October ever following a dry winter, as a result of which irrigation has begun early and many are expected to exceed their allocations. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister update the council as to the latest developments with regard to those water licence holders in the South-East who have missed out on delivery components?

2. Is legislative amendment required to fix this issue and meet the needs of the affected irrigators; if so, what plans does the minister have?

3. In the meantime, can the minister alleviate the anxiety of the concerned irrigators by assuring them that he (1) understands their dilemma; (2) is committed to fixing the problem to ensure that no irrigator is disadvantaged; and (3) will not take action against such affected irrigators who use more water than their licences currently entitle them to during this water year, so long as their usage does not exceed that which would be allowed with a delivery component?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:18): I thank the honourable member for his very important and timely question. On 30 April, the South East Natural Resources Management Board wrote to me recommending that the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan be amended to allow irrigators who missed the application period to apply for delivery supplements or specialised production requirements.

I have just recently received advice from the agency about the suggested amendments to the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan. I consider it appropriate that the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan be amended to extend the application date for delivery supplements and specialised delivery requirement allocations.

It is intended that a new closing date for applications be set for 5pm on Thursday 24 December 2015. This will enable the agency to assess these applications in a timely manner as initial reductions to allocations in the Lower Limestone Coast Prescribed Wells Area will be implemented from 1 July 2016.

The recommended amendments to the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan will address concerns raised by licensees in the South East NRM Board that some licensees may be significantly disadvantaged if they do not receive the delivery supplement or specialised production requirement allocation.

I am required to consult with the South East NRM Board prior to approving these amendments. I have written to Mr Frank Brennan, presiding member of the South East NRM Board, and I think the date was 10 November. On receipt of a response from the South East NRM Board, I will be able to finalise my consideration of this amendment, based on that advice.

The South-East of South Australia, as we all know, is of great ecological importance to the state. The value is underpinned by water resources of the Lower Limestone Coast. Inextricably, they are linked, and we need to provide certainty for water users to ensure water resources are sustained into the longer term to protect water-dependent ecosystems. The South East NRM Board has collaborated well with the community, industry and government to develop the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan.

Community and industry input to the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan was sought and received over an extended period, and it has assisted in the production of the final policies. As the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, I adopted the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Water Plan on 26 November 2013.

The Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan converts existing area-based water allocations to volumes. In what is believed to be a world first, it provides for commercial plantation forests to have a water allocation for recharge interception and direct groundwater extraction. The introduction of these forest water licences has been well supported, I am advised.

A risk assessment also identified eight groundwater management areas where the current level of allocations presented a high or very high risk to the sustainability of that resource. Reductions to allocations are scheduled to occur over the next eight years, ranging from 3 per cent up to 57 per cent, as a result of those risk assessment results.

Further adjustments to the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan were recommended by the South East NRM Board and approved by me. The South East NRM Board proposed some changes to fix small errors and omissions in the plan on 27 February 2014. I made those changes in December 2014 to reflect the legal requirements to obtain a forest water licence. The plan has been updated on the Natural Resources South East website, I am advised, where both the amended plan and a table of the changes are available.

I also advise that a number of people missed out on their applications, as I alluded to before in my explanation. Based on those concerns, I asked the South East NRM Board to consider those and provide to me some advice on whether it was appropriate for me to vary those plans. That advice has come back to me in the affirmative. I have sought some crown advice in that regard as well, which reassured me that I do have that power and ability to make those changes. Pending the advice from the South East NRM Board, which I am obliged to consult, I will make those determinations.

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