SOUTHERN FORESTS
IRRIGATION SCHEME — FEDERAL AND STATE FUNDING
680. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Minister for Regional Development:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon
Dr Steve Thomas, who is on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to the answer to question
without notice 419 asked as a dorothy dixer on 17 August 2017 on the southern
forests irrigation scheme in which the minister expressed that the Minister for
Water had confirmed the state government's commitment to the proposal
in a letter to the federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources.
(1) Did the Minister
for Regional Development support the Minister for Water's commitment to
the southern forests irrigation scheme in August 2017?
(2) Does the
Minister for Regional Development support the southern forests irrigation
scheme today?
(3) If no to (2),
why not?
(4) If yes to
(2), given that the federal funding of $40 million was announced over a year
ago, how has the minister progressed the proposal?
(5) Is a state
funding commitment of $19 million secure for this project; and, if so, for how
long?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the
question.
(1) Yes.
(2) Yes, my
support remains. However, it is important that the project is able to
communicate the benefits to the community and demonstrate that it can be done
in an environmentally sensitive manner.
(3) Not applicable.
(4) The next
major step for the project is securing Environmental Protection Authority
approval. This is the responsibility of the proponent. We expect that the
proponent's environmental review document will be lodged and available
for public comment in the next few weeks.
(5) The staged
funding commitment remains but is naturally dependent on the project being able
to receive all necessary approvals.