❓ The Minister for Water provides an update on the Water for Food project in the lower south west, highlighting strong grower interest and progress in developing a business case for an integrated irrigation scheme. The project aims to improve water supply reliability, expand horticultural opportunities, and diversify the state's economy.
AnsweredQoN 250Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WATER FOR FOOD PROGRAM — SOUTH WEST
250. Mr G.M. CASTRILLI to the Minister
for Water:
I understand that there has been
overwhelming support for the Water for Food project taking shape in the state's
lower south west. Can the minister please provide members an update on how this
project is progressing?
250. Mr G.M. CASTRILLI to the Minister
for Water:
I understand that there has been
overwhelming support for the Water for Food project taking shape in the state's
lower south west. Can the minister please provide members an update on how this
project is progressing?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
It is little over a year since we first announced the southern forests project,
as part of Water for Food, as one of the 11 projects that we are rolling out
under the royalties for regions–funded initiative. In that year with
this project group we have been working steadily with growers and we went
through a process of asking for letters of intent, essentially asking growers
in that region whether they would be interested in investing themselves into an
integrated irrigation scheme. That letter of intent process has now been
completed. We received 68 submissions which represented 92 properties that
wanted to be serviced by this integrated scheme. Growers have told us that they
require a volume of over 10 gigalitres of water. That is 50 per cent more than
what we anticipated when we started this project. There is an overwhelming
sense of confidence from those growers that they are looking to expand and
capitalise on the opportunities they see as part of irrigated agriculture and
what it offers to that part of the state.
The Department of Water is now
working on a business case to deliver a scheme that will meet the requirement
of that number of potential subscribers. We have had support from Tasmanian
Irrigation and farmers who have been involved in the schemes that have been
rolled out in Tasmania. Tasmanian Irrigation has successfully gone through this
process on a number of different occasions, so it has a great deal of
experience in working with growers with the state and federal government to
ensure that they deliver a project that meets the needs of those growers and
the state. I would like to put on record my thanks to Tasmanian Irrigation for
lending that valuable assistance in developing this project. The feedback I have
had from the growers is that they have been very appreciative of the time from
that organisation as well.
The scheme is in its early stages
and is expected to deliver water via 100 kilometres worth of pipeline,
supported by four pump stations. It is very early days. The key to this is the
reliability of the supply of water for growers, because that is bankability for
them and their business, and we are working to 95 per cent reliability. It
translates into a reliable business plan and that means more jobs, better
employment opportunities and they can invest themselves more. This is the
outcome that we seek.
Growers in the Manjimup and
Pemberton area provide 60 per cent of the region's production through
horticulture on only five per cent of that region's land mass. They are
extraordinarily efficient and very productive. The key limiter in expanding
their opportunities down there is the variability of their water supply; they
are at capacity, and that is why this project is very important. We will
continue to work over the next six to seven months to ensure that we have a scheme
that will deliver on the requirements that the growers have put on the table,
bearing in mind that that letter of intent process asks them to put their own
money on the table. That is $12 million of growers' money on the table
to be matched by the federal and state governments, when we have the business
case finalised. They are backing themselves and the flow-on impact of expanding
the horticultural footprint in that part of the state has enormous benefits in
terms of economic diversification and continuing to create jobs and employment.
I spoke about Water for Food at the biennial Northern
Australia Food Futures Conference in Darwin. There is extraordinary interest in
the state's plan around expanding irrigated agriculture. I have spoken
in this place before about the projects we have in the north. The projects in
the south are now rolling out and we are starting to see some real promise.
Diversification of this state's economy is the key to ensure that we
have more jobs and more employment. This project has taken a major step to
deliver on that for the people of Manjimup and Pemberton and I will leave on
that note with the words of a Tasmanian farmer, who has been through this
process himself, saying that irrigated agriculture is not just about growing
food, it is about growing regional communities. That was Richard Gardner and
his experience from Tasmania is something that we would like to replicate here
in Western Australia.
It is little over a year since we first announced the southern forests project,
as part of Water for Food, as one of the 11 projects that we are rolling out
under the royalties for regions–funded initiative. In that year with
this project group we have been working steadily with growers and we went
through a process of asking for letters of intent, essentially asking growers
in that region whether they would be interested in investing themselves into an
integrated irrigation scheme. That letter of intent process has now been
completed. We received 68 submissions which represented 92 properties that
wanted to be serviced by this integrated scheme. Growers have told us that they
require a volume of over 10 gigalitres of water. That is 50 per cent more than
what we anticipated when we started this project. There is an overwhelming
sense of confidence from those growers that they are looking to expand and
capitalise on the opportunities they see as part of irrigated agriculture and
what it offers to that part of the state.
The Department of Water is now
working on a business case to deliver a scheme that will meet the requirement
of that number of potential subscribers. We have had support from Tasmanian
Irrigation and farmers who have been involved in the schemes that have been
rolled out in Tasmania. Tasmanian Irrigation has successfully gone through this
process on a number of different occasions, so it has a great deal of
experience in working with growers with the state and federal government to
ensure that they deliver a project that meets the needs of those growers and
the state. I would like to put on record my thanks to Tasmanian Irrigation for
lending that valuable assistance in developing this project. The feedback I have
had from the growers is that they have been very appreciative of the time from
that organisation as well.
The scheme is in its early stages
and is expected to deliver water via 100 kilometres worth of pipeline,
supported by four pump stations. It is very early days. The key to this is the
reliability of the supply of water for growers, because that is bankability for
them and their business, and we are working to 95 per cent reliability. It
translates into a reliable business plan and that means more jobs, better
employment opportunities and they can invest themselves more. This is the
outcome that we seek.
Growers in the Manjimup and
Pemberton area provide 60 per cent of the region's production through
horticulture on only five per cent of that region's land mass. They are
extraordinarily efficient and very productive. The key limiter in expanding
their opportunities down there is the variability of their water supply; they
are at capacity, and that is why this project is very important. We will
continue to work over the next six to seven months to ensure that we have a scheme
that will deliver on the requirements that the growers have put on the table,
bearing in mind that that letter of intent process asks them to put their own
money on the table. That is $12 million of growers' money on the table
to be matched by the federal and state governments, when we have the business
case finalised. They are backing themselves and the flow-on impact of expanding
the horticultural footprint in that part of the state has enormous benefits in
terms of economic diversification and continuing to create jobs and employment.
I spoke about Water for Food at the biennial Northern
Australia Food Futures Conference in Darwin. There is extraordinary interest in
the state's plan around expanding irrigated agriculture. I have spoken
in this place before about the projects we have in the north. The projects in
the south are now rolling out and we are starting to see some real promise.
Diversification of this state's economy is the key to ensure that we
have more jobs and more employment. This project has taken a major step to
deliver on that for the people of Manjimup and Pemberton and I will leave on
that note with the words of a Tasmanian farmer, who has been through this
process himself, saying that irrigated agriculture is not just about growing
food, it is about growing regional communities. That was Richard Gardner and
his experience from Tasmania is something that we would like to replicate here
in Western Australia.
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