House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Personal Explanation Personal Explanation Northern Flinders Ranges NORTHERN FLINDERS RANGES The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly Ramsay Premier Minister for Economic Development Minister for Social Inclusion Minister for the Arts Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change 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) (21:43): I seek leave to make a personal explanation. Leave granted. The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly The Hon. M.D. RANN: I beg the house's indulgence. Earlier today I made a ministerial statement in the house on balancing mining and conservation in the North Flinders. In the statement I referred to the duration of the suspension of activities imposed on Marathon Resources in connection with its exploration licence in the Arkaroola area. I would like to clarify that the licence extension has been granted only for a one year term, with conditions imposed including a requirement for both the Director of Mines and the Chief Executive of the Department for Environment and Heritage to approve jointly all exploration activities. All ground-disturbing exploration activity on the tenement, which includes Arkaroola, remains suspended at least until proposed amendments to the Mining Act come into force. The suspension has been in place since February 2008. Proposed changes to the Mining Act will strengthen compliance and enforcement provisions and the ability of PIRSA to better regulate activities on mineral tenements, including exploration licences. I thought, given the honourable member's interest in the lesser spotted gudgeon, that I should clarify that. [Sitting extended beyond 22:00 on motion of Hon. M.J. Atkinson]