Question Time

NATIVE VEGETATION

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): Why, after six years of state Labor, has the Premier failed to meet his election promise 'to save the best of what is left of South Australia's native vegetation in a bid to protect 67 animals and 144 plant species now in danger of extinction'? Documents being prepared for cabinet, leaked to the opposition from within senior levels of government today, reveal a sad truth that 98 animals (up from 67) and 187 plants (up from 144) in South Australia have now been declared endangered and are presently at risk, with bleak prospects for the future. The document also reveals that one in four of the state's species are now on the threatened list. A good environment record, Premier!

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. Foley: You are hypocrites. You are a bunch of hypocrites.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:13): This is extraordinary. The Leader of the Opposition who, by the way, yesterday when he was again—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will take his seat. The member for Heysen.

Mrs REDMOND: The Deputy Premier called out that we are hypocrites. My understanding is that that is considered unparliamentary.

The SPEAKER: That is unparliamentary. If the Deputy Premier did say 'hypocrites', he must withdraw.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No, sir; in fact, I said they are a bunch of hypocrites and I apologise and withdraw.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Thank you, sir. The way that people conduct themselves is very interesting. We saw the extraordinary thing the other day when we were told about no bullet holes, or whatever it was, and yesterday again, geographically challenged, he talked about Andamooka. He was on all the TV news services saying it but apparently he has tried to doctor the Hansard report. This is a measure of someone's character: that he thinks he might want to doctor Hansard, but I think the TV has told the truth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: We all heard it, the TV reporters heard it, the 'Tiser heard it, but apparently it is to be removed. It is a bit like what happens in totalitarian states: let's make sure that it is airbrushed lest the Hansard report be sent to Andamooka and Roxby Downs and they can hear what the Leader of the Opposition thinks of them! How phoney is this question! Here they are, all morning, attacking our native vegetation laws. This is the party that watered down the environmental standards and the native vegetation laws that we have had to reinstate, because you do not give a damn about the environment, and never have.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Oh, I know there is a bit of nervousness. Apparently, the leader is aware now that it is definite that Alexander Downer is stepping down and there will be a by-election in Mayo. I thought he ruled out running against the leader of the opposition, but I can tell you this: we look forward to Chris Kenny, of late memory—we ought to remember his unbiased reporting—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier must return to the substance of the question.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I think we are going to see a by-election in May. It will be interesting to see how they all go. Let us just talk about the issue of animals under threat. This government has committed, in the State Strategic Plan, to the development of 19 marine parks by 2010 which are designed to protect and conserve representative samples of marine habitats and biodiversity. Who attacked the marine parks? The Liberal Party attacked the marine parks.

Since 2002, we have established 14 new parks. The world-renowned Coongie Lakes wetlands has been protected by declaring it a new national park free from mining, something that the Liberal governments of the past would never do.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: You didn't do it. You were the minister. Did you declare it a national park? No; there we go. Four new wilderness protection areas have been proclaimed, the first since—wait for it—1993. Not one single wilderness area was proclaimed when the opposition was in government, because it does not give damn about the environment. I know you want to know—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Oh, so someone thinks they were small areas. You talk about substance—something that you do not know anything about. It is great that we got tipped off about your question, but it was not by the person who tipped us off about the doctoring of Hansard, I promise you. I do not want to dob anybody in. Four new wilderness protection areas have been proclaimed, the first since 1993. They include 500,000 hectares of the Yellabinna wilderness protection area. That is the biggest wilderness area ever proclaimed, as far as I am aware. Under the Liberal government, wilderness protection areas increased 70,000 hectares, and under this government, 900,000 hectares: from 70,000 hectares to 900,000 hectares. So, you want to make sure that you get it right before you pop your head up here.

The two million hectare Mamungari Conservation Park has been handed back to the Maralinga Tjarutja Aboriginal people. All future mining in Kangaroo Island's national parks has been banned. Mining from the Gammon Ranges National Park and the state-controlled sections of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park has also been banned. The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary was established in the electorate of the Deputy Premier, and I do not know anyone greener than the Deputy Premier. The Million Trees program is something else that you bagged, because you thought it would be a bushfire risk. The Million Trees program will plant three million trees in a series of urban forests at a cost of $10 million over five years. The power and influence of the Environment Protection Authority—again, constantly attacked by the other side—has been boosted by making it independent of government, and it is increasing its role in monitoring radioactive materials. Legislation was introduced this week to allow the appointment of an independent chair to further bolster its independence. We have page after page of this.

Can I just say this: the Leader of the Opposition apparently believes that we have not been doing too well on solar and wind power. There was not one single wind turbine operating in this state before I became Premier, and, now, with less than eight per cent of the population of Australia we have nearly 50 per cent of the wind power and nearly 50 per cent of the grid-connected solar power. You are total phoneys on the environment; you have never given a damn about the environment, and if you want to know the difference just look at the figures of wilderness areas—70,000 hectares under the Liberals, 900,000 under us.