MARINE PARKS

Ms FOX (Bright) (15:15): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Conservation. Will the minister advise the house about the effect of the proclamation last week of the provisional marine parks' outer boundaries?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (15:16): I thank the honourable member for her question. I know that she is a great advocate for the coastline in her electorate and has made many representations—

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, last week, we proclaimed the 19 provisional marine park boundaries and their release for an eight-week consultation period before the final boundaries are proclaimed in the middle of the year. Our research has shown that 95 per cent of the South Australian community are in favour of the creation of marine parks. South Australians know that marine parks will preserve our marine environment for future generations by protecting our marine life and habitat.

In the days since the announcement, some issues have been raised about the outer boundaries and their effect. One such issue is the size of boundaries—about 46 per cent of the state's waters. The size of the network has been carefully chosen based on 14 design principles and the size of the provisional boundaries also takes into account a number of very important factors. One is our ability to choose and protect habitat in a way which can account for changing climate. Of course, as those who have bothered to inform themselves would realise, it is also a multi-use zone. It enables us to have various gradations of protection, going up to the very highest protection in the sanctuary zones.

What we do have, though, is a bit of scaremongering by those opposite. On behalf of his leader, the member for Hammond (I think) said that fishers would be locked out of almost half of South Australia's coastline. That claim is simply wrong. The first thing is that no activity is actually affected by last Thursday's proclamation and it will not be until the management plans which will be developed over the next two years or so are in place. Even then, aquaculture, commercial and recreational fishing will still be able to go ahead.

Of course, the majority of each marine park, including jetties, boat ramps and popular beaches will be available for recreational and commercial fishing and other sustainable activities. It will only be those small zones in each marine park (which will be developed as part of the consultation with the community over the next two years) where fishing will not be allowed. Consequently, recreational fishers should not be alarmed by these false claims.

I suppose the most breathtaking thing of all is the member for Hammond, on the opposition leader's website, saying that there is no good reason for these marine parks, which will come as a surprise to the member for Davenport, who I think had a bit of a hand in designing the policy on this for the last election. The present position is that there is no good reason to have them, but at the last election—when it counts—we were told that the Liberal government would make marine and coastline management a top priority.

Ms Chapman: Exactly.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Wait for it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The election policy states:

…aim to have all marine parks declared by 30 June 2008. The government's current timetable is 2010 compared with the original Liberal completion date of 2006.

Now they are a bad idea, but at the last election we were not doing it quickly enough. This is typical of the Liberal opposition. What we find is that when members opposite sniff what they think is a political opportunity—for instance, that great idea to have a by-election in order to get a bit of momentum going into an election year—they grab at it.

Ms CHAPMAN: I have a point of order, sir. This is debate and completely irrelevant.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister is now debating. The minister.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I will return to the question. The critical issue for people is that they should not be scared by those opposite and their extreme public remarks. I cannot find an aquaculture representative, a recreational fisher or a commercial fisher who has come out with a position as extreme as that of the Liberal Party. They are working with us to make this work. All the sensible people in industry and those in the representative organisations know that marine parks are crucial to protecting marine habitat which, in turn, is crucial to making sure we have a healthy environment. We have a pristine marine environment. The idea is to ensure it remains that way.

I know the member for Davenport knows that this is a good initiative—and that is why he is sitting there quietly at the moment. There are good reasons for going down the path we have taken—that is, quietly and carefully—in order to ensure we build a consensus around this important piece of environmental protection.