❓ The Minister for Agriculture and Food addresses concerns about potential water management charges for the agricultural industry, assuring that unwarranted charges will not be applied, particularly for farm dams and water already under existing management and licence fee regimes.
AnsweredQoN 1046Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
WATER RESOURCES - MANAGEMENT CHARGES
I refer the minister to recent publicity concerning proposals for water management charges. What has the minister done to ensure that the agricultural industry is not burdened with unwarranted water charges for the use of water which is captured in dams built by farmers and which cannot be tapped by other users or for other water use that is already covered by a management and licence fee regime? Hon KIM CHANCE
I refer the minister to recent publicity concerning proposals for water management charges. What has the minister done to ensure that the agricultural industry is not burdened with unwarranted water charges for the use of water which is captured in dams built by farmers and which cannot be tapped by other users or for other water use that is already covered by a management and licence fee regime? Hon KIM CHANCE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for what is a very good and timely question. I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for what is a very good and timely question. I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for what is a very good and timely question. I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for what is a very good and timely question. I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for what is a very good and timely question. I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
I am aware of the views of the agricultural industry, and of commercial water users more generally, about the prospect of the introduction of water resource management charges to recover some of the costs to the community of managing water resources. It is appropriate that commercial water users contribute to the cost of the management of our most precious resource, acknowledging that some industries already bear costs associated with finding and accessing water. The introduction of a water licence administration fee is part of this. Agricultural water licences have a fee regime associated with them in only very specific and rare circumstances. These comprise a very small number of licences and relate to direct abstraction from a few rivers and a creek near the metropolitan area: the Canning, Serpentine and Dandalup Rivers, and Stoney Brook. It is intended that water licence administration fees will apply to existing and new licences and not to the majority of farm dams that are unlicensed and are unlikely to be licensed. As the Leader of the Opposition’s question specifically nominated “unwarranted” charges, I am able to assure him that no such charges will be applied.
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