Parliamentary Questions

Question Without Notice No. 788 asked in the Legislative Council on 7 November 2017 by Hon Jacqui Boydell

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

Answered on 7 November 2017

GASCOYNE MASTER PLAN

788.

Hon JACQUI BOYDELL

to the Minister for Regional Development:

I refer to the draft Gascoyne master plan rolled out by the previous state government that seems to have been abandoned by the Ministers for Water and Regional Development.

(1) Is the government going to force the Gascoyne Water Co-operative, and ultimately growers, to pay more than they already are to access water-related infrastructure?

(2) When is the government going to hand over those water-related assets to the GWC?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.

(1)–(2) I know that her family is involved in this issue, and that her parents are growers in the Gascoyne. I understand that this is an issue of very deep concern to the member. We are working closely with the Minister for Water on this to determine a stable way forward. There is a bit of conflict on the river about exactly which mechanism should be used, and there is deep concern about the stability of the cooperative organisations that would be established and whether we have a strong enough organisation to manage this effectively and in a stable manner. We note that Harvey Water, for example, is a very stable, mature organisation, and that has worked well. There is concern about whether we are at that point with the Gascoyne, but we are working through the issues through them. We are concerned not to create an environment of instability.