❓ The Minister for Water provides an update on progress towards increasing recreation and tourism opportunities in and around waterways in the South West, highlighting deproclamation efforts and the opening of Wellington Dam for recreational use.
AnsweredQoN 926Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SOUTH WEST
WATERWAYS — TOURISM AND RECREATION
926. Mr M.J. COWPER to the Minister for
Water:
Can the minister please update the
house on progress towards increasing recreation and tourism opportunities in
and around waterways in the south west?
WATERWAYS — TOURISM AND RECREATION
926. Mr M.J. COWPER to the Minister for
Water:
Can the minister please update the
house on progress towards increasing recreation and tourism opportunities in
and around waterways in the south west?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Murray–Wellington
for the question. I know there are a number of water catchments in his
electorate, and the member has been a very strong advocate in promoting his
region and encouraging people to come to it—as do a lot of members from
the south west.
Mr
M.P. Murray : Ask him about the local scheme water.
Mr
D.T. REDMAN : I will; I will get to that.
We know there are fantastic tourism
destinations in the south west, such as Margaret River, the tree-top walk and
Pemberton. There are also tourism destinations inland. The Ferguson Valley is
one. I know the member for Collie–Preston has encouraged people to
visit the Ferguson Valley on a number of occasions. It was good to see the area's
Gnomesville campaign on the ABC recently. I refer to places like the Wellington
National Park, which has something like 150 000 visitors each year coming into
that region. An impediment to getting the full value out of tourism in those
areas is the number of proclaimed water catchments, which means they have a
level of protection over them to maintain a pristine water supply. In some
cases, those proclamations are on catchments that have not been used for
drinking water for a decade. One of the commitments the Liberal Party took to
the last election was to deproclaim some of those catchments. To give an idea
of the deproclamations that have occurred over the last couple of years, since
April last year, Bickley Dam, Gooralong Brook Water Reserve, Dirk Brook Water
Reserve, Boddington Dam and Murray River Water Reserve have been deproclaimed.
The Bancell Brook and Brunswick catchment areas came into play between June and
October 2013. These are significant changes that have helped tourism and
encouraged full use of those areas.
One of the largest surface water catchments in the area is
the Wellington Dam, which holds 182 billion litres of water. It has not
supplied drinking water to anyone in the region for more than 10 years because
of salinity levels. The election promise that the Liberals took to the last
election was to deproclaim the Wellington Dam and open it for recreational use.
Unfortunately, we were unable to go down the deproclamation path, but instead
an amendment to the Country Areas Water Supply By-laws 1957 was finalised last
month. This was because we wanted to maintain protections for vegetation
control that assist with salinity reduction at that particular catchment and in
maintaining the environmental values of the area. We did not want to go down
the deproclamation path. For all intents and purposes, that will now be —
Mr M.P. Murray interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Collie–Preston, you can save that question for next year.
Mr D.T. REDMAN :
The amendment means that the Wellington Dam can be opened for recreational use.
This involves recreational values for the local community and others who move
to that area, including a range of recreational pursuits. I am aware, as
mentioned by the member for Collie–Preston, that there is some concern
from the local community about whether speedboats and waterskiing should be
allowed on the dam. That will be left up to the local community, the local
authority and the relevant government agencies to resolve. I think that is an
appropriate step. Local decisions will resolve that issue. The point is that
there has been a big step here to deproclaim a number of water catchments to
open them for recreational use so those areas will be a substantial attraction
for people from outside the area. I am sure that the member for Murray–Wellington
will be very happy with these initiatives taken by the Liberal–National
government to support recreation and tourism in his electorate.
for the question. I know there are a number of water catchments in his
electorate, and the member has been a very strong advocate in promoting his
region and encouraging people to come to it—as do a lot of members from
the south west.
Mr
M.P. Murray : Ask him about the local scheme water.
Mr
D.T. REDMAN : I will; I will get to that.
We know there are fantastic tourism
destinations in the south west, such as Margaret River, the tree-top walk and
Pemberton. There are also tourism destinations inland. The Ferguson Valley is
one. I know the member for Collie–Preston has encouraged people to
visit the Ferguson Valley on a number of occasions. It was good to see the area's
Gnomesville campaign on the ABC recently. I refer to places like the Wellington
National Park, which has something like 150 000 visitors each year coming into
that region. An impediment to getting the full value out of tourism in those
areas is the number of proclaimed water catchments, which means they have a
level of protection over them to maintain a pristine water supply. In some
cases, those proclamations are on catchments that have not been used for
drinking water for a decade. One of the commitments the Liberal Party took to
the last election was to deproclaim some of those catchments. To give an idea
of the deproclamations that have occurred over the last couple of years, since
April last year, Bickley Dam, Gooralong Brook Water Reserve, Dirk Brook Water
Reserve, Boddington Dam and Murray River Water Reserve have been deproclaimed.
The Bancell Brook and Brunswick catchment areas came into play between June and
October 2013. These are significant changes that have helped tourism and
encouraged full use of those areas.
One of the largest surface water catchments in the area is
the Wellington Dam, which holds 182 billion litres of water. It has not
supplied drinking water to anyone in the region for more than 10 years because
of salinity levels. The election promise that the Liberals took to the last
election was to deproclaim the Wellington Dam and open it for recreational use.
Unfortunately, we were unable to go down the deproclamation path, but instead
an amendment to the Country Areas Water Supply By-laws 1957 was finalised last
month. This was because we wanted to maintain protections for vegetation
control that assist with salinity reduction at that particular catchment and in
maintaining the environmental values of the area. We did not want to go down
the deproclamation path. For all intents and purposes, that will now be —
Mr M.P. Murray interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Collie–Preston, you can save that question for next year.
Mr D.T. REDMAN :
The amendment means that the Wellington Dam can be opened for recreational use.
This involves recreational values for the local community and others who move
to that area, including a range of recreational pursuits. I am aware, as
mentioned by the member for Collie–Preston, that there is some concern
from the local community about whether speedboats and waterskiing should be
allowed on the dam. That will be left up to the local community, the local
authority and the relevant government agencies to resolve. I think that is an
appropriate step. Local decisions will resolve that issue. The point is that
there has been a big step here to deproclaim a number of water catchments to
open them for recreational use so those areas will be a substantial attraction
for people from outside the area. I am sure that the member for Murray–Wellington
will be very happy with these initiatives taken by the Liberal–National
government to support recreation and tourism in his electorate.
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