Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

South Australians have been desperate for improvements to the water situation in the coastal waters of Gulf St Vincent, in the diversity of supply of fresh water to metropolitan Adelaide and in the supply of fresh water to the ecological jewels of the River Murray and adjacent wetlands for a long time—not just for the last couple of years but for years and years. This summer we have seen good progress in and around my electorate of Hindmarsh in South Australia, which we have not seen for many years.

I had the pleasure of attending the turning of the tap with the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, in Adelaide during early January, when we opened the Glenelg waste water treatment plant to the Adelaide Park Lands pipeline, funded to the tune of $30 million by the Rudd Labor government. It will supply billions of litres of recycled water for use between the bay at Glenelg in my electorate and the city. Along the way it will feed off to water many parklands, school ovals and the Richmond football oval, which is the great ground of the famous West Adelaide Football Club in my electorate. The Unley Council will also partly use the water.

As I said, of course much of the credit should go to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong; the Mayor of the City of West Torrens, Mr John Trainer, and his council, who have been advocating for this pipeline for a very, very long time; and of course the South Australian government for making this a reality. We have seen the funding commitment from this Rudd Labor government for the Adelaide airport stormwater project as well and the state department of transport concept plans for an aquifer storage and recovery and wetlands scheme being drawn up for the Oaklands Park, which is just upstream from my electorate along the Sturt River. Such projects are valuable for the fresh water they make available for use, offsetting fresh water taken from the River Murray; but they are also valuable for their contribution towards the other great environmental water challenges we face along Adelaide’s coastline and along the western border of my electorate, which is the Gulf St Vincent, such as the survival of marine flora and fauna, the health of our fish stocks and the reduction of coastal erosion.

Similarly we all welcome the great influx of water that we will soon have flushed down the River Murray and into our lower lakes, giving added protection from the acid sulphate soils that continue to threaten an ecological disaster. In January 2010 we saw not only the South Australian government’s pledge of 170 billion litres of water for the lower lakes reaffirmed but also the announcement of an additional 168 billion litres of water secured for the benefit of the lower lakes, which will flow to the lakes in around March of this year. (Time expired)