House debates

Thursday, 4 December 2008

Constituency Statements

Barker Electorate: Lake Bonney

9:36 am

Photo of Patrick SeckerPatrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise to speak about Lake Bonney, which is the geographic centre of the Riverland in South Australia, in the mighty electorate of Barker. The natural, sparkling freshwater lake is fed from the Murray River via Chambers Creek—I should say it was fed, until the Rann state Labor government stoppage of River Murray water flow into Lake Bonney in September 2007. On the lake is the township of Barmera, which has a population of approximately 4,000 people. Being a tourist town and in a major fruit-growing area, the township of Barmera depends on Lake Bonney for much of its income. The system of water allocation to date has been controlled by the states, and greed rather than common sense frequently dictated the allocation of water. Notwithstanding that South Australians are very efficient users of water—indeed, our state only uses around six per cent of the total water allocated out of the system—Lake Bonney’s and South Australia’s biggest problem is that we are at the end of the line.

As a consequence of being cut off from the Murray River last year, the Lake Bonney waterline wetland has receded and become saline. Recently we saw massive amounts of fish of a number of species die off at Lake Bonney. Just last week, hundreds of golden perch, redfin, bony bream and carp were found dead on the shores of the lake, where 10 dead Murray cod have also been found. One cod, estimated to be about 25 years old, was more than 1.3 metres long. University of Adelaide studies indicate that the fish were killed by a lack of oxygen caused by reduced water flows and dying plant life.

Environmental and community groups have been calling for the government to save the lake since it was cut off from the River Murray more than a year ago. The blame for allowing water in the lake to reach high salinity levels lies with state Labor governments for failing to take earlier action. In June of this year, the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board recommended that Lake Bonney in South Australia be provided with a water allocation of 20 gigalitres by October to prevent ecological problems. Whilst I am pleased to note that 10 gigalitres will be delivered over the next few months, it will only be a partial refill.

Last year Minister Maywald said that temporary closure of Lake Bonney was necessary to ensure delivery of water to Adelaide. This is a city-centric mindset whereby natural wetlands are sacrificed to a city which draws 80 gigalitres of water from the Murray for consumption and yet, according to the government’s own figures, allows 160 gigalitres of stormwater to flow out into the Gulf of St Vincent. We can no longer afford to let precious water go out to sea. It is a waste and ecological madness. We need to ensure that Adelaide manages water effectively and, in doing so, reduces its reliance on the River Murray. This in turn will provide additional environmental flows and additional water for food producers and irrigators who rely on the river.