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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 1391 asked in the Legislative Council on 12 June 2018 by Hon Robin Chapple

Question Directed to the: Minister for Regional Development representing the Minister for Water
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 1646- View tabled paper


Question

I refer to the irrigation centre pivots at Liveringa Station owned by Gina Rinehart, and I ask:
(a) when were the centre pivots installed;
(b) how many are there;
(c) what size in hectares are they;
(d) are they built on a floodplain;
(e) how much water has been allocated to their operation;
(f) how much of the allocation has been used in each year of operation;
(g) what months of each year was water being pumped;
(h) if the allocation is not fully used each year, does the department have a policy of reducing the allocation;
(i) if yes to (h), why has this not been done at Liveringa;
(j) does the water licence state that the licensee must install an approved meter to each draw-point through which water is taken under this licence by 31 December 2017;
(k) if yes to (j), has a meter been installed;
(l) if no to (k), why not and what action will the department take to enforce the condition;
(m) will the Minister table the Annual Reports for the past three years; and
(n) if no to (m), why not?

Answered on 21 August 2018

(a) Surface water licence SWL156377(1) was issued on 10 July 2006, which provided for the irrigation of up to 300 hectares, using three centre pivots.  Approval for irrigating using a fourth pivot was granted through the issuing of surface water licence SWL156377(3) on 16 September 2015.

(b) 4

(c) 100 hectares per pivot

(d) The department has no formal floodplain mapping for this section of the Fitzroy River. However, the areas where the pivots are located are not regularly inundated and could be considered to not fall within the floodplain.

(e) 6 000 000 kilolitres per annum surface water is licenced.

(f)
2007: 915 000 kilolitres abstracted
2008: 552 000 kilolitres abstracted
2009: 930 000 kilolitres abstracted
2010: 900 000 kilolitres abstracted
2011: 882 360 kilolitres abstracted
2012: 1 135 080 kilolitres abstracted
2013: 580 000 kilolitres abstracted
2014: 2 259 200 kilolitres abstracted
2015: 1 934 000 kilolitres abstracted
2016: 1 624 000 kilolitres abstracted
2017: 1 574 000 kilolitres abstracted

(g) Prior to 2018, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (and predecessor, the Department of Water) did not require monthly water use to be reported.

(h) The Departments policy on unused water does not apply in this case. The volume of water that is able to be abstracted and used by Liveringa is limited by conditions on the licence and includes not only the entitlement volume but also the water level in Durack Pool. Flow conditions can be extremely variable and do not allow the full entitlement to be taken in most years. The Department has not attempted to recoup the unused water as the licenced volume is an upper limit on what can be taken.

(i) Not applicable

(j) Yes

(k) Yes

(l) Not applicable

(m) Yes.  Commercially sensitive information has been redacted. See tabled paper no.

(n)  Not applicable