Kaurna Electorate Parks

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (16:48): I rise to discuss some important upgrades that are happening to the local environment in my electorate of Kaurna. In Kaurna, we are very lucky to have three very important protected areas: firstly, the Aldinga Scrub Conservation Park; secondly, the Moana Sands Conservation Park; and, thirdly, the Onkaparinga River Recreation Park, which is of course connected to the Onkaparinga River National Park, which mainly sits in the member for Mawson's electorate. All of these parks contain very significant environmental features, including native plants and animal species, as well as important areas of Kaurna heritage.

It is very important that, as a government, we are investing in the parks across our state. In particular, I am very pleased that we are investing in parks in the southern region of Adelaide. In mid-2005, the state government committed $2.4 million to upgrade parks in the south, and we wanted to do that in a way by which we engaged with the local community and conducted what was called a 'co-design process' to determine how this money should be spent and on what projects. That is very important, because we wanted to use this money to engage more people in being active with our parks, to get more people interested in using them, and a lot of the projects that have come about through this process have been ideas from the community.

After that announcement, I wrote to local residents living near the Onkaparinga River Recreation Park with a survey asking them their views on what areas of the park required upgrades and, if so, where we could best allocate the funding. We received about 100 responses to that survey from residents, offering a wide range of suggestions on how the park could be improved to further encourage others to connect with nature. We provided all of this information to minister Hunter in the other place, outlining these suggestions. The most popular ideas included new public toilets, new walking tracks, additional shade and shelters, picnic tables and cycling trails. Importantly, there was a very high percentage of people who responded who did connect regularly with the parks and viewed it as an important local asset.

I was also very lucky to attend, on behalf of minister Hunter, the co-design group where the allocation of this funding was discussed and decided. At that meeting, I was able to represent the views of local residents in my area on what upgrades they believed were the most important. I would particularly like to thank the hard work of the Friends of Onkaparinga Park group, who spend countless hours working hard across both parks to improve the area, to get rid of weeds and to improve walking tracks. Without those hardworking, dedicated volunteers, the parks would be in a much worse state than they are today. We can see all across the parks their dedication has been displayed. I would particularly like to make note and pass on my condolences for the group's late president, Mr Colin Malcolm, who recently sadly passed away, and thank him for his tireless efforts and pass on my condolences to all of his family and friends. He will be deeply missed.

After this process of consultation, I am very glad that the state government has decided that, out of that $2.4 million, $1.7 million will be dedicated to the Onkaparinga River Recreation and National Parks. The upgrades that will be happening include upgraded facilities at Perry's Bend, including improved vehicle parking, trail links, information, and kayak and canoe launching facilities, which people will know is very popular in Onkaparinga River. There will be a new lookout location over the Punchbowl to include picnic areas, parking and trails. There will be new walking and cycling trail upgrades, improvements to the park's entrance and information available at the entrance, and upgrades to toilets and drinking facilities. There will be camping grounds available for families and large groups and better links to off-park services and facilities.

We can see that all of those upgrades will improve the amenity of the park and also enable more visitors to interact with the beautiful natural features within the park. We even have a growing number of tour operators taking tours in there. The Off Piste tour company is one such tour company in the south, and hopefully we will see more and more in the future. I would like to thank all of those constituents who contributed to the co-design process and my survey. Their comments have been taken on board and will see noticeable benefits for their local environment.