Part 1Preliminary

Part 1—Preliminary 1—Short title This Act may be cited as the Ground Water (Qualco-Sunlands) Control Act 2000. 3—Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears— category in relation to land means the category of the land prescribed by regulation; contribution year means the period of 12 months from 1 October to the following 30 September; 2000/2001 contribution year means the period— (a) commencing on a date (whether falling in the year 2000 or 2001) to be fixed by the Minister, by notice in the Gazette; and (b) ending on 30 September 2001; disposal basins means basins used, or intended to be used, to hold water pumped from the ground water mound and from underground water lying above the layer of Blanchetown Clay in the Scheme Area for the purpose of disposal by evaporation and seepage; disposal capacity of the Scheme means the capacity of the Scheme infrastructure to pump water into the disposal basins and the capacity of the disposal basins to hold water; domestic partner means a person who is a domestic partner within the meaning of the Family Relationships Act 1975, whether declared as such under that Act or not; electricity transmission lines includes— (a) cables for the transmission of electricity; and (b) posts, pylons, pipes and equipment for carrying or laying electricity cables over or under land; and (c) transformers and other equipment required for the transmission and use of electricity; ERD Court means the Environment, Resources and Development Court; the ground water mound means the underground water in the Loxton Sands and the Murray Group Limestone aquifers the upper level of which has been raised to the shape of a mound by irrigation; irrigated land means land that— (a) is within the Scheme Area and comprises the whole or part of an irrigated property; and (b) is, or has in the past been, subject to irrigation with water taken pursuant to a water licence or water allocation under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019; irrigated property means a property the whole or part of which is situated in the Scheme Area and— (a) is, or has in the past been, irrigated wholly or partly with water taken pursuant to a water licence or water allocation under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019; and (b) is, or has in the past been, used to carry on the business of primary production or some other enterprise and is, or has in the past been, managed as a single unit for that purpose (whether the land comprising the property is a single parcel or is made up of a number of parcels physically separated from each other); irrigation authority means— (a) in the case of a private irrigation district under the Irrigation Act 1994—the irrigation trust for that district; (b) in the case of a government irrigation district under that Act—the Minister for the time being administering that Act; irrigation declaration means a declaration by the owner of an irrigated property under section 54; member of the Trust—see section 5; Murray‑Darling Basin Agreement means the Murray‑Darling Basin Agreement, a copy of which is set out in Schedule 1 of the Water Act 2007 of the Commonwealth, as in force from time to time; owner of land means— (a) where the land has been granted in fee simple— (i) in the case of land that is subject to a life estate—the holder of the life estate; (ii) in any other case—the holder of the estate in fee simple in the land; (b) where the land is held from the Crown under lease or licence—the lessee or the licensee; (c) where the land is held from the Crown under an agreement to purchase—the person who has the right to purchase; relative in relation to a person means the spouse, domestic partner, parent or remoter lineal ancestor, son, daughter or remoter issue or brother or sister of the person; risk in relation to land means the risk of waterlogging or salinisation of that land or other land resulting from irrigation of the firstmentioned land; risk management allocation—see section 40; the Scheme means the scheme established by this Act— (a) to pump water into the disposal basins from the ground water mound and from underground water lying above the layer of Blanchetown Clay in the Scheme Area; and (b) to drain water from the underground water lying above the layer of Blanchetown Clay in the Scheme Area into the ground water mound; and (c) to pump water from the underground water lying above the layer of Blanchetown Clay in the Scheme Area to land on which it will be used for irrigation; Scheme Area means the area shown in Schedule 1; Scheme infrastructure means the system of wells, pipes, pumps, tanks and other infrastructure (including electricity transmission lines) used, or to be used, for the purposes of the Scheme (but does not include disposal basins); spouse—a person is the spouse of another if they are legally married; the Trust means the Qualco-Sunlands Ground Water Control Trust established by this Act; water disposal easement—see Part 4; water licence means a water licence granted under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019; waterlogging and salinity risk management allocation—see section 40; water usage year means the period of 12 months from 1 July to the following 30 June; well means— (a) an opening in the ground excavated for the purpose of obtaining access to underground water; (b) an opening in the ground excavated for some other purpose that gives access to underground water; (c) a natural opening in the ground that gives access to underground water. (2) Subject to subsection (3), where two or more irrigated properties are managed by the same person or by different persons who are associates (see subsection (4)), the properties will be taken to constitute a single irrigated property for the purposes of this Act. (3) If, on the application of one or more of the persons referred to in subsection (2), the Trust is satisfied that one or more of the properties referred to in that subsection is managed as a single unit separately from the other or others, the Trust must declare the property to be an irrigated property separate from the other or others for the purposes of this Act. (4) A person is an associate of another person if— (a) a relationship of a kind referred to in subsection (5) exists between them; or (b) they are linked by a series of relationships of a kind or kinds referred to in subsection (5) through one or more other persons. (5) Subsection (4) applies in relation to the following kinds of relationships: (a) the relationship between relatives; (b) the relationship between a guardian and a child or a guardian and a protected person; (c) the relationship between partners; (d) the relationship between employer and employee; (e) the relationship where one person is bound to, or usually does, act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of another person; (f) the relationship between a body corporate and an executive officer of the body corporate; (g) the relationship between a body corporate and a person who is in a position to control or influence the activities of the body corporate; (h) fiduciary relationships. (6) Where— (a) land in the Scheme Area is irrigated with underground water supplied by the Trust under a scheme to reuse underground water for irrigation; and (b) at times when underground water is scarce the Trust uses water taken pursuant to a water licence or water allocation under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019 to meet its obligations to supply water to the land, the use of water taken pursuant to a water licence or water allocation for that purpose will not be taken into account in determining whether the land is an irrigated property for the purposes of this Act. (7) For the purposes of this Act— (a) a water usage year corresponds to the contribution year that commences during the water usage year; and (b) a contribution year corresponds to the water usage year that ends during the contribution year. (8) In this Act, a reference to contribution year includes a reference to the 2000/2001 contribution year. (9) The first water usage year for the purposes of this Act is the period of 12 months from 1 July 2000 to 30 June 2001. 4—Provisions relating to irrigation districts (1) Where the whole or part of an irrigation district under the Irrigation Act 1994 comprises part of the Scheme Area and there are no water allocations under that Act in respect of any of the irrigated properties (within the meaning of that Act) comprising the district (or the part of it that is within the Scheme Area) or water allocations do exist in respect of some of those properties but not all of them, the following provisions apply— (a) the irrigation authority for the irrigation district is a member of the Trust if a waterlogging and salinity risk management allocation is attached to the irrigated land of the district; and (b) the irrigation district (or the part of it within the Scheme Area) will be taken to be an irrigated property owned by the irrigation authority; and (c) the irrigated properties (within the meaning of the Irrigation Act 1994) comprising the irrigation district (or the part of it within the Scheme Area) are not irrigated properties for the purposes of this Act; and (d) each of the owners of the irrigated properties (within the meaning of the Irrigation Act 1994) comprising the irrigation district (or the relevant part of it) will be taken not to own their respective properties but to be an occupier of the property concerned in addition to any other person in actual occupation of the property. (2) Subject to subsection (3), where the whole or part of an irrigation district under the Irrigation Act 1994 comprises part of the Scheme Area and water allocations exist under that Act in respect of all of the irrigated properties (within the meaning of that Act) comprising the district (or that part of the district that is within the Scheme Area), the following provisions apply— (a) the irrigation authority for the irrigation district is not a member of the Trust; and (b) the irrigated properties comprising the irrigation district (or the relevant part of it) are irrigated properties for the purposes of this Act as though the irrigation district did not exist; and (c) the owners of those properties to which, or to part of which, a waterlogging and salinity risk management allocation is attached under this Act are members of the Trust. (3) Where subsection (1) applies in relation to an irrigation district under the Irrigation Act 1994 and water allocations are subsequently fixed under that Act so that water allocations exist under that Act in respect of all of the irrigated properties under that Act comprising the district (or the relevant part of it), subsection (1) will continue to apply in relation to the district until the expiration of three months (or such longer period as is fixed in the notice) after the irrigation authority for the district has served written notice on the Trust that subsection (2) will apply to the irrigation district instead of subsection (1). (4) Where subsection (2) applies to an irrigation district in pursuance of a notice under subsection (3), the waterlogging and salinity risk management allocation attached to each of the categories of irrigated land comprising the district will be divided between the irrigated properties (comprising the district) that include the relevant category of land in proportion to the water allocations under the Irrigation Act 1994 of the properties concerned. (5) For the purposes of this Act, land may comprise an irrigated property within the meaning of the Irrigation Act 1994 despite the fact that a water allocation does not apply to the property under that Act (see the definition of irrigated property in section 4(1) of the Irrigation Act 1994).