Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:24): I would like to raise a couple of issues in the house today, one in particular relating to Victor Harbor. The Fleurieu tourism people and the mayor and business group in Victor Harbor are particularly keen to get cruise ships going there. They want to share in the cruise ship market, and I am supportive of that and think it is a good thing.

There are some issues with getting in there, mooring ships and getting people ashore, which they are fully cognisant of and want to do something about but, having visited cruise ships going into Port Lincoln where they can pull up right alongside the wharf in the middle of town, which is extremely good, I support what Mayor Graham Philp and the people of Victor Harbor and the Fleurieu are trying to do. Getting cruise ships going in there would be a great boon for the region. There is plenty to do and see and, in a town the size of Victor Harbor, this would only increase the opportunities to come with Oceanic Victor, which starts soon and will be good. I am going to a lunch to hear more about that next week.

The other thing I want to talk about today is the issue of Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers. A fortnight ago, the Deputy Premier granted them major project status. I am pretty comfortable with the major project status, as I think it gives the opportunity for things to be explored, but there are some major issues going on. I do not know the answer to this, but today the ASX has said the securities of KIPT will be suspended from official quotation from 1 March 2017 following failure to lodge their half-yearly reports and accounts for the period ending 31 December 2016, in accordance with ASX listing rules.

As I say, I do not know the technicalities of that. It may be easily explained, and I respect that if that is the case, but there are a number of things taking place. I am afraid that I do not have a great deal of confidence in the board and management of KI Plantation Timbers. I have met them two or three times, and I fail to be satisfied that they really understand the complexities of trying to put in a port at Smith Bay.

Even today, I have been in contact with people on the Island who have contacted me about drilling taking place out off the coast, ostensibly without approval. The government agencies are working on that as we speak but, if indeed there is illegal drilling in the water, this is the second time this has taken place. KI Plantation Timbers had contractors drill along the shoreline in the coast protection zone last year or the year before without any approvals whatsoever. Fortunately, they were made to stop very quickly. They were down on the foreshore drilling without any permits.

I do not understand the psychology or where KI Plantation Timbers are coming from. Nobody on Kangaroo Island objects to removing the timber and doing something about it; it would be the best possible thing that could happen. Interestingly, I have also just noticed on the internet that the port of Portland has an enormous stockpile of timber which they currently cannot sell. While KIPT are saying they have a firm market for the timber if they can harvest it, which is good, I would like to know how that is going to fit in with this stockpile at Portland, which is absolutely enormous. One wag said it was so big that it had snow on top of it.

The situation is very detailed in relation to the current abalone farm that exists on Kangaroo Island with some $30 million worth of infrastructure. Absolutely nothing KI Plantation Timber have told me convinces me that they have any idea about the operation of an abalone farm or what is required to make that place tick along. They seem to rely on bits and pieces. They cannot substantiate evidence on the figures they have provided to me quite openly in the presence of two other members of parliament, I might add. They are all figures that have been drafted up.

I look forward to putting in a submission in relation to the major project status at the time. I want the timber industry to work, but I do not want the port at Smith Bay, nor does the vast majority of Kangaroo Island residents.