National Parks and Wildlife (Co-managed Parks) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 19 October 2016.)

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:21): I indicate that I am not the lead speaker.

The Hon. P. Caica: You should be.

Mr PEDERICK: Thank you, member for Colton. I want to speak to the National Parks and Wildlife (Co-managed Parks) Amendment Bill 2016. This bill amends the co-management provisions of the National Parks and Wildlife 1972 and the Wilderness Protection Act 1992 and also provides retrospective approval to two existing mining leases in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, which have operated unregulated since 1972 due to an administrative error.

The National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Wilderness Protection Act exist to establish and protect parks and wilderness areas. In 2004, the National Parks and Wildlife Act was amended to allow for the co-management of parks, a move designed to recognise and include Aboriginal communities in the management process of their traditional lands. Similarly, in 2013, amendments were made to the Wilderness Protection Act 1992 to provide for co-management over the state's wilderness areas.

These co-management agreements have allowed Aboriginal communities to care for sacred places, upskill people, build land management expertise and pursue potential cultural tourism and economic benefits. I am informed that the state government has now entered into 12 co-management agreements over 35 of South Australia's parks and reserves covering 13½ million hectares or 64 per cent of the state's reserve system. These 12 agreements currently include seven boards and five advisory committees. Some of these boards advise several parks but have no legal authority to manage them.

The bill provides for administrative amendments to clarify the wording used to allow the co-management by one board over several parks. Additionally, this amendment will allow for existing co-management agreements to be updated to allow existing co-management boards to merge. This is of particular relevance where one Aboriginal community is represented across multiple boards in the same region.

Additionally, this bill includes an amendment which allows regulations to be made that fix expiation fees for alleged offences against the act in addition to the regulations. Furthermore, the bill includes discussion surrounding the two mining leases in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. The bill includes an amendment to the National Parks and Wildlife Act that provides retrospective approval for the two mining leases in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park while not allowing mining rights to be acquired over any other area of the park.

I indicate that we are supporting the bill, and it is nice to be able to tidy up administrative errors after 44 years, but better late than never. I note that we have had discussions here in the past, and I met with people from the department of environment in regard to Coorong National Park becoming co-managed. I certainly think it is, obviously, a way of getting everyone in society involved in the management of national parks and I just hope that, one day, we can get some better outcomes for shacks in national parks, which we are certainly keen on looking at. Overall, this co-management plan, as long as it is sustainable, will take us into the future.

Ms COOK (Fisher) (16:26): I rise today to speak in favour of the National Parks and Wildlife (Co-managed Parks) Amendment Bill 2016. Co-managed parks are not just an alternative way of managing our national parks but a core component of reconciliation with the traditional owners of our state. As a government, we continue to pursue reconciliation with the aim of achieving a mutual understanding and respect between Aboriginal peoples and other South Australians. South Australia has taken a significant step in its reconciliation journey by becoming a formal campaign partner of the national RECOGNISE campaign.

The state government recognises the special connection Aboriginal Australians maintain with the land and the primary role of the natural environment in Aboriginal culture and tradition. In accordance with this special relationship, we have committed to involving Aboriginal peoples in the management and maintenance of national parks and other public spaces with which local Aboriginal people have affinity. The introduction of innovative new arrangements for the co-management of parks with Aboriginal people in 2004 was a major achievement of the state government which has been recognised nationally and internationally.

There are currently 12 co-management agreements covering over two-thirds of the land area of the park system. Native title holders now co-manage over 32 parks and reserves around our state These arrangements cover approximately 13.5 million hectares, which represents over 60 per cent of the total protected area system. At the same time, a number of parks have been renamed to give them a more meaningful Aboriginal name.

In February 2014, new and refreshed state government reconciliation action plans were launched. This was reportedly the largest number of RAPs launched under one initiative since the Reconciliation Australia RAP program commenced in 2006. We continue to monitor and promote the state government's RAP implementation. The state government developed South Australia's Strategic Plan, which recognises the central role Aborigines play in our state's culture and history and acknowledges that Aboriginal people do not currently share in the full benefits of our society. Over 10 per cent of the plans' targets are now Aboriginal-specific and many of the other targets also benefit Aboriginal people.

The state government has also announced The Next Steps—Stolen Generations Reparation Scheme, which provides for up to $6 million in ex gratia payments to be made to Aboriginal South Australians removed from their families without court order, and $5 million for whole-of-community reparations.

The Aboriginal Regional Authority model seeks to recognise and strengthen Aboriginal governance structures at the regional level, to foster enhanced community decision-making and to establish a new relationship between government and Aboriginal people. During NAIDOC Week 2016, three Aboriginal organisations were announced as being recognised as South Australia's first Aboriginal regional authorities. Part of the government's $10 million Job Accelerator Fund is $1.4 million for new Aboriginal economic development initiatives in the state's north-west pastoral region with project partner, the Indigenous Land Corporation.

At the last state election, we committed an additional $300,000 to increase South Australia's system of parks and reserves. Since coming to government in 2002, we have proclaimed 72 new parks and have made 81 additions to our parks. In 2013, we provided the iconic Nullarbor Plain with South Australia's highest level of conversation protection. It is now a wilderness protection area and has contributed to the almost doubling of area in South Australia which receives this level of protection to approximately 1.8 million hectares of land.

Over 2.2 million hectares have been added to the state's reserve system or reclassified to a higher conservation status under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 and the Wilderness Protection Act 1992. South Australia now has the largest percentage of land area in both public and private protected areas of any Australian mainland jurisdiction, a total area around the size of the state of Victoria. At the last state election, we committed $1.7 million to establishing the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary and the second national park for Adelaide.

At the last state election, we also committed $10.4 million to upgrade our metropolitan national parks to better connect residents of the north and south with nature. We recently launched a strategy to activate South Australia's nature based tourism sector, Nature Like Nowhere Else. As part of this strategy, we are providing longer term licences for our white shark tourism operators—a key component of the state's $1 billion a year nature based tourism sector. Another state election commitment we have recently launched is the new $5 million five-day walking trail on Kangaroo Island.

I would like to thank everyone across South Australia who has gone to such an effort to ensure the success of our co-managed national parks, and indeed all our national parks. They can be enjoyed by all South Australians now and into the future. I commend the bill to the house.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (16:32): I rise to speak on the National Parks and Wildlife (Co-managed Parks) Amendment Bill 2016. I indicate that I will be the lead speaker for the opposition. I note that the South Australian Liberal Party will support this bill. In 2016, this version of the bill essentially amends the co-management provisions of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 and the Wilderness Protection Act 1992. The bill also provides retrospective approval to two existing mining leases in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park which have operated unregulated since 1972 due to an admin error.

By way of background, the National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Wilderness Protection Act were established to protect parks and wilderness areas. In 2004, the National Parks and Wildlife Act was amended to allow the co-management of parks, a move designed to recognise and include Aboriginal communities in the management process of their traditional lands. Similarly, in 2013 amendments were made to the Wilderness Protection Act 1992 to provide for co-management over the state's wilderness areas.

These co-management agreements have allowed Aboriginal communities to care for sacred places, upskill people, build land management expertise and pursue potential cultural tourism and economic benefits. The state government has now entered into 12 co-management agreements over the 35 South Australian parks and reserves, covering the 13.5 million hectares or 64 per cent of the state's reserve system. These 12 agreements currently include seven boards and five advisory committees. Some of these boards advise on several parks but have no legal authority to manage them.

This bill provides administrative amendments to clarify the wording used to allow the co-management by one board over several parks. Additionally, this amendment allows for existing co-management agreements to be updated to allow existing co-management boards to merge. This is of particular relevance where one Aboriginal community is represented across multiple boards in the same region.

The bill also includes an amendment that allows regulations to be made that fix expiation fees for alleged offences against the act, in addition to these regulations. Furthermore, the bill includes discussion surrounding two mining leases in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. South Australia's parks make an important contribution to the economic development of the state through its nature-based tourism, recreation and biodiversity.

I note that in the 2015 Flinders Ranges National Park Draft Management Plan the board renamed the park as Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. To run through the story of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, I think Glenys Coulthard, one of the board members, explained it pretty well:

Our land cannot survive without its people, and its people cannot survive without the land. Co-management recognises the connection between Aboriginal people and the country.

That really does reflect that the bill includes discussions surrounding those two mining leases, that South Australia's parks make an important contribution to economic development and allows Indigenous people to be a part of that and to be able to upskill.

The Adnyamathanha people are the traditional owners of the Flinders Ranges National Park. They have co-managed the park in conjunction with the South Australian government since 2011 and recognise the importance of the park to all South Australians. The formation of the Flinders Ranges National Park Co-management Board honoured the wishes of the old people by enabling the Adnyamathanha people to resume responsibility for the care of their country.

Arrangements for the co-management of the park are guided by the Flinders Ranges National Park's Co-management Agreement. It assists the Adnyamathanha people to exercise their traditional rights and cultural practices. Management was further enhanced by drawing on the traditional knowledge and experiences of the Adnyamathanha people. Essentially, the bill provides for one board, rather than many smaller co-managed boards, to cover a larger area.

I note that at the Port Augusta to Northern Flinders Ranges Country Cabinet, the protection of the Aboriginal sites at Sacred Canyon was an issue raised. This site is within the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. In response, the state government stated:

The Government is investigating how to manage visitor pressure on the rock art at Sacred Canyon. Traditional Owners are being consulted on appropriate ways to manage the site.

The State Government has signed an Indigenous Land Use Agreements with the Adnyamathanha Traditional Land Owners Association which includes commitments to support appropriate management of these significant areas. The Government is currently working to progress the incorporation of the Sacred Canyon site within the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, which will afford the site a greater level of protection into the future as access to the site can be controlled.

This is an example of the challenges of managing our national parks. Hopefully, through tight legislation such as this bill, we can continue to see the traditional owners, the community and the state government working together to address these types of issues.

While we are speaking about our national parks, I would like to acknowledge the volunteers who are dedicated to watching over and caring for our parks. Volunteering is an industry that I feel does not get recognition here in South Australia. The passion, the time and effort and the expertise that volunteers present, particularly to national parks—the way that they show their skills and leadership and the way they care for the country—I think is just an outstanding achievement. For example, the Friends of Flinders Ranges National Park was started in 1995 by a group of people interested in preserving the natural and pioneering assets within the park. Obviously, the Flinders Ranges National Park has been a focus of this bill with a retrospective approval for two mining leases, one within the this park.

Many of these volunteer groups exist across the state, with mainly active retirees attending the parks through the year, contributing in some way to completing projects to general maintenance. They have a joint passion for flora and fauna, Aboriginal heritage and culture, geographical features, pastoral and mining history and the magnificent beauty of the parks. I trust that the amendment bill will go through smoothly, without any interference from the government, and I note that the opposition supports the bill for a speedy passage.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (16:40): I can assure the member for Chaffey that the government will not be interfering with this bill in any way. Of course, it will go through in the way and manner that it is intended, but I do appreciate the fact that the member for Chaffey has provided the opposition's support to this bill. You might find this somewhat bizarre, Deputy Speaker, but I could have sworn that the member for Fisher used almost exactly the same types of words I was going to use. Be that as it may, it was an excellent contribution—and I am not saying that just because it was almost identical to the one I was going to present.

This is a relatively simple bill, and I do not mean that in any disrespectful way. It is correcting some things that were not seen when co-management was first established; that is, through the passage of this bill, it will allow for co-management agreements with Aboriginal people to establish a co-management board over more than one park. That makes a lot of sense given the proximity of some of our parks and reserves to each other that are under the care and control of the co-management board, and it is a very sensible and proper thing to do.

Others have spoken also about the retrospective approval to the two existing mining leases in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, and that is a good thing, too. That is actually formalising something that was occurring anyway but was an oversight at that time as well, so it makes a lot of sense. I say that it is a simple bill, but it is a very important bill. You might not believe this, Deputy Speaker, but the Wilderness Protection Act was established in 1992 in what were then the dying stages of the Labor government after the—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I think you guys came in 1993.

Mr Whetstone: I wasn't born.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, that's a lie and he's misleading the house, Deputy Speaker. Irrespective of the year that it came into existence, what I do know is that at the end of the Labor government at that stage there were approximately 70,000 hectares that were under the care and control of proclamation of being a wilderness area. Again without being disrespectful to the opposition, Deputy Speaker, I ask you a rhetorical question: how many extra square metres were provided that level of protection during the period of 1993 to 2002?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Six.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Exactly none—not one square inch. Today, we have in existence over two million hectares of land provided the highest level of protection they possibly can be under the Wilderness Protection Act.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: What we have is far more parks under co-management than ever existed before. I promise not to respond to the interjections of the member for Chaffey. I do not need any protection.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Because he is already on two warnings.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I don't need any protection at all.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are both on two warnings.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am a very disciplined person, Deputy Speaker. You know that I will not warrant a third and final warning from you because my behaviour will not require you to do so.

Getting back to the bill, the point that I was making was that it is a bit rich for any opposition to question the credentials of this government when it comes to providing the appropriate level of protection for vast tracts of land here in South Australia. We should be rightly proud of the work that we have done in the area of environment and conservation through the proclamation of parks. We can be especially proud of the role that we have had in expanding—and through this bill further expanding—the way by which co-management occurs.

The member for Fisher said a lot about the benefits that arise from co-management. I will not recap too many of those, but we know that Aboriginal people have a connection with their land the like of which we could never have. They have always culturally been a part of the landscape that they have inhabited for many tens of thousands of years, and that relationship continues today with respect to their views, their feelings, and their compatible living in their land. What better people to manage the vast parks that we have here under co-management, which is essentially on those first people's lands. It makes a lot of sense because they can bring something to it that we never can.

What we can do is assist our Aboriginal people in the ways by which effective management can occur from an administrative perspective. I look forward to nothing more than having those boards in the future not be co-management boards, but be managed by Aboriginal people. I look forward to the day that will occur. Whether that happens with our friends down the Coorong way, or our friends in the Flinders Ranges, or our Aboriginal people out on the West Coast, it will happen, and the sooner it happens I will be a happy person. Having said that, there is still work to be done that requires and warrants it being under a co-management arrangement, but the inevitable fact is that it will eventually be transferred to management by the Aboriginal people whose land it is, and that is an appropriate and proper thing to do.

Mr Whetstone: Cost shifting.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I beg your pardon? It is not cost shifting at all. That was a very inane statement. It is actually returning back to the people, in another mechanism, what is actually theirs.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: I broke my promise earlier and allowed myself to—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey!

The Hon. P. CAICA: Tim, I am not being disrespectful to you, but when you make a stupid comment it is incumbent upon me and other people to respond.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, it is not. It is unparliamentary on both sides.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: The record has to be corrected. I have done that, and I will move on. I do not think I will speak for much longer. There is nothing more I can say beyond what I have already said. I commend the bill to the house. Again, it is taking this government's commitment to the care and protection of land to another level by making these simple changes that allow for a co-management board to cover more than the existing area than was previously proclaimed. I congratulate the minister in another place on bringing this bill to the house, and I congratulate the Minister for Education on her exceptional work in her role in bringing it to this chamber.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (16:47): I rise to support this, as the member for Colton described it, very simple but very important bill. I agree with that because, as a member of the Natural Resources Committee, we had the privilege very recently of travelling to the far west of the state and seeing firsthand evidence of successful co-management in a number of the parks out there, and the enthusiasm with which the local Aboriginal people, and also the local NRM board, embraced co-management. It was really a delight to see, and a success story unfolding for that part of the world.

The government's National Parks and Wildlife (Co-managed Parks) Amendment Bill amends the co-management provisions of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 and the Wilderness Protection Act 1992. The bill also provides retrospective approval to two existing mining leases in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. The National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Wilderness Protection Act exist to establish and protect parks and wilderness areas. In 2004, the National Parks and Wildlife Act was amended to allow for the co-management of parks, a move designed to recognise and include Aboriginal communities in the management process in their traditional lands.

Similarly, in 2013 amendments were made to the Wilderness Protection Act 1992 to provide for co-management over the state's wilderness areas. These co-management agreements have allowed Aboriginal communities to care for sacred places, upskill people and build land management expertise—not that it did not already exist amongst the local Aboriginal communities, but it is important that these skills be continued so that they are not lost. It also allows for the local communities to pursue potential cultural tourism and economic benefits. The state government has now entered into 12 co-management agreements over 35 of South Australia's parks and reserves covering 13½ million hectares (or 64 per cent of the state's reserve system). So, almost two-thirds of the state's parks and wilderness areas are under co-management.

These 12 agreements currently include seven boards and five advisory committees. Some of these boards advise several parks but have no legal authority to manage them, so this amendment bill provides that authority. The bill also provides administrative amendments to clarify the wording used to allow the co-management by one board over several parks. Additionally, this amendment will allow for existing co-management agreements to be updated and to allow existing co-management boards to merge. This is of particular relevance where one Aboriginal community is represented across multiple boards in the same region.

Additionally, this bill includes an amendment that allows regulations to be made that fix expiation fees for alleged offences against the act in addition to the regulations. It is a very simple and important bill. I did a quick bit of research because I did not know off the top of my head, and I learned that on Eyre Peninsula there is a total of 19 national parks and conservation parks—a combination of both. Some of these at least now fall under co-management agreements.

The member for Chaffey was talking about the Adnyamathanha people who of course are impacted by the mining agreements in the Northern Flinders Ranges. In the electorate of Flinders, we have five traditional owner groups, namely, the Kokatha, Wirangu, Mirning, Barngarla and Nauo people. Their skills and input into the management of these parks, and the enthusiasm with which they undertake it is a delight to see. I mentioned earlier the NRC's trip to the far west of the state to visit the AW NRM Board as part of our undertaking to visit as many of the NRM regions as we can in the life of this parliament.

We went to a part of my electorate that I do not have the opportunity to visit very often: the far west, out onto the Nullabor. There we met with some Mirning people out on the plain itself, and they talked us through the importance of some of the bush foods and the importance of the cave structures to their people. I spoke with one delightful older Aboriginal woman who told me quite openly the story of her life. It was the story of a life that unfolded for her in a different time. She was a lady of 70-odd years and, she told our group that she had been married off at the age of 16 to a 54-year-old man. That was not uncommon. She said it was relatively commonplace; they were the arrangements that were made.

She had 11 children to this man. Eventually, he died, and in the end she said that she was not sorry that he died. She said, 'I never really liked him,' but she was married to this man at the age of 16. She was not bitter about it; she spoke about it very matter of factly, but as I said, it was a different time and a different era. Arrangements such as those were altogether different and in many ways accepted by the people at the time, as was indicated by this lady.

I digress a bit, but Auntie Dorcas was her name, and we were out in her country, on Mirning land on the Nullabor. She was teaching us and showing us about the bush foods that were available in this very sparse and desolate landscape. It is a beautiful landscape—it is a beautiful part of our state and a beautiful part of Australia—but it is not productive in any sense of the word. Yet, these people survived for tens of thousands of years out there. Those people—the Mirning people, and the Kokatha, the Wirangu, the Barngarla, the Nauo and the Adnyamathanha people all have the opportunity to be involved in the co-management.

The management of these parks is very critical because it is not about shutting the gate and walking away, and I have spoken about that before in this place. It can never be about shutting the gate and walking away because we have moved past that. We are at a point now where we can no longer do that because other things come into play, such as introduced species, feral species, significant numbers of native animals in plague proportions and the incursion of weeds.

All these things have to be managed. Sometimes revegetation needs to occur, and those revegetation sites need to be managed until they are robust enough to look after themselves. All those things need to be considered, but this bill goes further than that even: it allows for those sacred sites and those important sites to the Aboriginal people to be considered, acknowledged and cared for.

The member for Chaffey picked up on something that had not really occurred to me, but I guess should have, and that is the importance of volunteers in the management of these parks. I should have done so before, but quite recently I became a member of a Friends of Parks group, one of the 19 national parks and conservation parks on Eyre Peninsula. I had a very enjoyable day out with a group in the Lincoln National Park. Theirs is just one group of many Friends of Parks groups that not only take great delight in that natural landscape but also are very happy to be involved in the active and effective management of those parks.

All these things come into play. I am pleased that we are able to support the passage of this bill and it should allow for more effective and consistent management of all our parks going into the future.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (16:56): I would like to thank all members for their contributions to this debate in amending the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. Co-management brings together traditional Aboriginal and contemporary Western perspectives to take care of the cultural and natural values of South Australia's parks. It allows Aboriginal people to look after and use land in accordance with their traditional values. In recognition of the success of this initiative, the state government has entered into co-management agreements that cover 35 of South Australia's parks and wilderness areas, covering 13.5 million hectares or 64 per cent of the state's reserve system.

The National Parks and Wildlife (Co-managed Parks) Amendment Bill 2016 strengthens co-management by making amendments to the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 and the Wilderness Protection Act 1992 that clarify co-management governance arrangements and allow co-management boards to be established to manage multiple parks. This amendment will provide greater flexibility for both the government and Aboriginal people to enter into co-management. I commend the bill to members.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (16:58): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.