Menindee Lakes and Floodplain Harvesting - Question Without Notice
Ms CATE FAEHRMANN: My question is directed to the Minister for Water. The Minister said that one of the actions she would take in response to the Chief Scientist's report into the fish kills in the Darling‑Baaka River would be:
Considering Section 324 temporary water restrictions to restrict low priority licences as drier conditions escalate.
It is November. There is a water quality alert and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has predicted an almost certain threat of blue-green algae in the lower Darling and Menindee Lakes. With rainfall occurring over the past week and predicted over the next few days, there is a brief opportunity to place an embargo now: an opportunity that exists for a few days, not weeks. Will the Minister urgently place an embargo on floodplain harvesting to ensure that much-needed water reaches the Darling-Baaka?
The Hon. ROSE JACKSON (Minister for Water, Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Youth, and Minister for the North Coast): I thank the member for her question. She is absolutely right. I reiterate my public commitment to considering the use of section 324 orders to ensure that the Menindee Lakes are replenished and that the water quality and quantity there is maintained. It is premature for me to commit to any kind of embargo in the current circumstances. Whilst there has been some rainfall across the northern basin, there has not been any significant rainfall at this stage over the northern tributaries that would lead into Menindee. The member is correct that that may happen over the next few days. We will monitor that. If a rainfall event does occur, we will monitor at what volume that occurs.
Again, we do not know how much rain may fall in those areas. It may not be enough, for example, for some kind of pulse event, which is really what we would be looking for, particularly in terms of water quality—like a flushing event. It may not be enough for that. However, I give the member a commitment that, as I have publicly said, we are monitoring that. If there is a rainfall event and if it is of significant quantity, we will consider that. We remain very concerned about the quality and quantity of water in the Menindee Lakes. I was there recently. I was on the Darling River. Despite all of the water that has been flowing through the system, there is still the ongoing risk of stratification and deoxygenation in the lakes. We have been pulsing water out of Lake Pamamaroo to try to keep the fish alive. We are actively managing the circumstance. That does require replenishment when the opportunity presents itself.
I draw the member's attention to the fact that, because the lakes are still under the management of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and it is calling water out for use by irrigators in the southern basin, there is an equity argument. If I am going to restrict access in the northern basin whilst the Murray-Darling Basin Authority is calling water through to the southern basin for use in irrigation, there is an equity issue that needs to be considered. Section 324 orders, as the member would know, can only be used in special circumstances and in the public interest. I do have to consider those equity arguments when making those orders.
The last thing that I will say is that I find the current framework for section 324 orders unsatisfactory. It is weak, and there is not a strong framework around it. I do not prefer that kind of very unclear discretionary ministerial order. The member knows that those orders have not worked in the past. I reiterate my commitment to using the independent expert connectivity panel that is currently reviewing that to provide a more robust framework for the use of those orders going forward, so that it is not just the Minister relying on vague advice to make those orders, but so that everyone knows what the rules are and so the rules are implemented clearly and consistently.
Ms CATE FAEHRMANN: I ask a supplementary question. Will the Minister elucidate the part of her answer where she said that the action is dependant on the amount of rainfall? How much rain would it take? I am sure the Minister is aware that the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has said that after a wet period going into a drought, environmental watering is important to build resilience. How much water is enough water, considering this might be the last amount of generous rainfall we get before a long, hot summer?
The Hon. ROSE JACKSON (Minister for Water, Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Youth, and Minister for the North Coast): The member has asked a very good question. It really goes back to the issue that I raised at the end of my first answer, which is that we do not have a good framework for making that assessment. I cannot give the member a volume for the amount of water because the current framework does not allow for those kinds of decisions to be made within that. Assessments are made on a very weak framework. But I will say this: The volume would need to be such that, if an embargo was placed on opportunistic water take—primarily floodplain harvesting or potentially supplementary water—the impact of the embargo would meet the goal of putting it in place in the first place, which is to replenish the lakes and improve water quality there. That is the challenge. If the volume of the rainfall event is too low, and is not particularly in the right place, the impact of any embargo is going to be very limited because the water will not reach the lakes due to evaporative losses and other losses.
As the member knows, it is not as direct as putting on an embargo and then the water just flowing into the lakes. There are many reasons—environmental watering and water losses and other things—that mean that an embargo can be placed on some areas and not a drop of that water, or a very small trickle of that, actually reaches the lake that is its intended goal. The rainfall would need to be of a volume to give me confidence that taking the action to place the embargo—despite the equity issues with restricting irrigation in some areas when the Murray‑Darling Basin Authority is calling on water to allow it in others—would ensure that the water that was not used for floodplain harvesting would reach the lakes and have an impact on quality and quantity there. I am just not sure of that at the moment. We will need to see what happens over the coming days.