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The Border Watch : November 6th 2013
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4 NEWS Primary producers battle to be heard PRIMARY producers in the South East are worried that Water Minister Ian Hunter will sign off on the South East Water Allocation Plan without taking their concerns into consideration. This was the message from South Australian Upper House Independent MP John Darley, who spoke out on the ongoing controversy over the plan. He said Daryl Croser - a prime lamb and beef producer at Wattle Range - recently wrote to the minister on behalf of a number of other primary producers outlining their issues. “Whilst the minister has acknowledged receipt of the letter, we are all worried because we know the South East Natural Resources Management Board has a big infl uence on the minister,” Mr Croser said. “The board does not share the same concerns as us and we fear that our voices will be drowned out by theirs.” He said primary producers felt that forestry plantations in the area had been given preferential treatment and feared that they would be forced to bear the brunt of cuts to water allocations. “We don’t want any preferential treatment, but if there are going to be cuts, all water users in the region should share the burden rather than only targeting the primary producers,” Mr Croser said. Meanwhile, Mr Darley said farmers in this area had done an excellent job in conserving the water resource. “Their efforts in the past few years should be acknowledged and rewarded rather than them being punished by having their allocations cut,” Mr Darley said. SUPER SPECIALS Specials effective from 6/11/13 - 12/11/13 BBQ Lamb Chops $ 10.90kg Pork Loin Steaks $15.90kg Terra Rossa Sausages $7.90kg “Where Quality & Service Matters” Pepper Burgers $1.00ea Honey Sesame Chicken Drumsticks $5.90kg MARGARET STREET MEATS 28 Margaret Street, Mount Gambier Ph 08 8723 2003, Fax 08 8723 2959 Email: terrarossabeef@bigpond.com Narkindie Park Naracoorte Enormous Potential Endless Possibilities • Substantial land holding of 3.331 Hectares (approximately) • 1 Title • Zoned Residential • Internal bitumen roads & underground services in place (Buyer to undertake engineering tests and COC for suitability of services) • Frontage of 3 roads: Aitchison Avenue 135.74 metres (approx.) Grieve Avenue : 182.05 metres (approx.) Cedar Avenue: 245.31m (approx.) Southern boundary: 157.56 metres (approx.) • Located so close to schooling, hospital, medical facilities & retirement village • Ready & waiting for subdivision (subject to approvals) Wednesday 27th November at 12.00 noon. Contact Diana Edwards 0417 888 624 Expressions of Interest closing Shop 4, Kincraig Plaza 26 Robertson Street, Naracoorte SA 5271 Phone 08 8762 2755, Fax 08 8762 1210 www.naracoortefn.com.au RLA 180354 4 - The Border Watch, Wednesday, November 6, 2013 632723 Plantation industry defends water plan Sector leader claims new allocations strike balance From front page The blueprint - which has been in limbo for nine years because of intense stakeholder negotiations - is now fi nally with Water Minister Ian Hunter for approval. In a provided statement, Mr Hein said the plan must move forward. He said the committee - which represented the major plantation forest owners - wanted to balance the “biased” arguments presented by Mr Beck, who was involved in extensive talks with stakeholders on the plan. “Although forest stakeholders are still opposed to some technical aspects of the plan, such as high deemed direct extraction rates, in the interests of moving forward all stakeholders did fi nally agree to the South East Natural Resources Management Board releasing the draft WAP for public comment,” Mr Hein said. “Mr Beck is not alone in being dissatisfi ed with some aspects of the draft plan, but the stakeholder consensus was to move forward.” Mr Hein said if claims there would be $800,000 in new forestry levies were correct, this would be a major additional cost to the forestry industry at a time when it could least afford it. “A number of different models of forest water use have been proposed over the last seven years,” he said. “The 100pc recharge interception allowance for forest plantations - along with native forests and lakes - is the current basis for accounting for forest water use and regional water availability in the existing 2001 WAP.” He said science indicated that the actual water use of most plantation forests was close to 100pc of rainfall for much of their life cycle. “Forest water licence holders, like irrigators in most situations, will be allocated water additional to their average needs in any one year,” Mr Hein said. In the new plan, he said irrigators would receive significantly more water through the volumetric conversion process, with additional delivery and special CONCERNED: Mingbool farming leader Tony Beck claimed last week that the region’s irrigation industry would bear the brunt of cutbacks. Picture: SANDRA MORELLO be made in a small number of over-allocated water management zones. “In these zones reductions in allocations will be shared equally between forestry and irrigators,” he said. SPEAKING OUT: Green Triangle Regional Plantation Committee chair Laurie Hein. production supplements. “Those familiar with the volumetric conversion process - including Mr Beck - will recall that the base volumetric allocations were set not on average irrigator water use but on a signifi cantly higher volume,” Mr Hein said. “75pc of irrigators use less water to grow their crops than was initially allocated to them.” He said the forest industry had forgone more than 42,000ha of the previously agreed plantation threshold expansion allowance to offset the new 100pc recharge interception arrangement Mr Hein said the draft plan proposed that 100pc allocation of recharge to forestry would not “Substantial areas of existing plantation are now at risk of not being replanted due to over allocation issues stemming from use of these deemed forestry models and recharge estimates, potentially impacting the overall viability of the forest industry in this region.” He said the forestry sector sought equity in water resource allocation across all sectors and could not understand why a stakeholder such as Mr Beck was now publicly questioning an arrangement all key stakeholders had agreed to. “The latest draft plan is an agreed starting point, subject to review every fi ve years,” Mr Hein said. “It has been a long and arduous process to reach the current point of consensus and we trust the minister recognises this by endorsing the WAP as recommended by the stakeholder reference group. “We trust that the SA Government, in its confi dential considerations since May 2013, has been able to accurately refl ect the agreed outcomes of the stakeholder reference group process in the fi nal draft of the Lower Limestone Coast WAP.” VISIT US ONLINE borderwatch.com.au 625957
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