Is the SA government tanking over water?

Every now and again you come across an idea that simply makes good sense; a blinding flash of the obvious, as they say.


Last weekend, trawling through the weekend real estate pages, one such bright idea struck my eye. A land division in the Yorke Peninsula is offering a 100,000 litre rain water tank free with every 900m2 house block sold. They have mains water to the door – so this isn’t simply about providing a water supply where none exists. It’s a great marketing idea that gets a big environmental tick. Great idea! Full marks!

There’s a whole lot like this that can be done in South Australia to reduce our future reliance both on the Murray for water and our generators for power.

The soon to be released revised Greater Adelaide Plan forecasts significant population growth for our city and our State. We’re right to be concerned for the strain that population growth will bring to our water and power resources but, at the same time, we cannot not grow. Our power infrastructure is largely aging and based on old technology, but the debate about nuclear power seems still a long way off. We’re also concerned that land prices have skyrocketed, leaving young families to struggle even more to build their own home; but conventional wisdom says that there’s little that can be done to tinker with the market.

The question then is: can we develop a way of assisting young families and support population growth while minimizing the drain on our water and power resources? The Democratic Labor Party believes we can.

We want to see every new major government land release to include, in the sale price, a 100,000 litre rain water tank plumbed into the house and free solar panels on every roof. Through the Land Management Corporation, the government raises significant revenue in land sales. Forgoing part of that revenue in this way makes good sense – it’s an investment in our future.

We have a once-for-all-time opportunity here. Wouldn’t it be great to see the Buckland Park development, for example, lead the way in protecting our environment and our resources while at the same time helping young families reduce their power and water bills. Buckland Park could become a model for sustainable growth, but we have to act now. Once the blocks are sold and the houses built we’ve missed the opportunity.

There’s an old saying that fads start at the top while solutions come from the bottom. It’s time we stopped placing all of our focus on the Federal argy-bargy over water flows, important as that is, and begin to look closer to home for real, lasting solutions.

The Democratic Labor Party has a proud history of innovation on environmental issues. In 1974 we pushed for kerbside recycling, years before it became a reality. We’re not ‘greenies’ but we do believe in taking care of what we’ve got. Like the Yorke Peninsula deal, we think this makes good sense, but we can’t wait for years for the idea to permeate through the grey marble walls on North Terrace.

What do you think?