Motions

Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (16:54): I move:

That this house requests His Excellency the Governor to make a proclamation under section 27(3) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 excluding allotment 63 in approved plan No. D93043, Out of Hundreds (Parachilna), from the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

The purpose of this motion is to excise an area of land from the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. The park is located approximately 450 kilometres north of Adelaide and is renowned for its natural and geological significance as a major part of the South Australian identity. It is co-managed by the Adnyamathanha people and provides a wonderful opportunity for visitors to experience landscapes, wildlife and Aboriginal culture. The proposal before parliament today seeks to consolidate the boundaries of one of our greatest natural assets.

The government and the lessees of Willow Spring Station have reached a mutually beneficial agreement for the exchange of land. In the south-eastern corner of the park is an area of land that has little conservation value and is better suited to pastoral activities. It abuts Willow Spring Station, a neighbouring pastoral property. This land is to be excised from the park and added to the pastoral lease. The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 requires parliament to pass a motion before such an excision can occur.

Once parliament has given this approval, Willow Spring Station will surrender from their pastoral lease an area of mountain range country, which has high conservation and landscape value. This land will be then added to the park. The result of this will be that 1,350 hectares will be excised from Willow Spring Station and added to the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. This will be swapped for 900 hectares being excised from the national park and added into Willow Spring Station. The agreement between the government and Willow Spring Station for the land exchange covers a range of matters and importantly preserves their access to land for tourism.

Brendan and Carmel Reynolds should be commended for having worked hard to develop their Skytrek business over the years as one of those great nature-based tourism offerings in the Flinders Ranges. In recognition of the tourism operations conducted on Willow Spring Station, the land being added to the national park will continue to be made available to them for tourism activities through the grant of a commercial tourism licence.

The government is committed to fostering nature-based tourism offerings throughout our park system and supporting Willow Spring Station to maintain its tourism products is part of this. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr SPEIRS (Bright) (16:57): It is good this afternoon to be able to provide the opposition's contribution on the motion that the Minister for Education and Child Development, in her capacity representing the Minister for Environment, in this house has moved. That motion is:

That this house requests His Excellency the Governor to make a proclamation under section 27(3) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 excluding allotment 63 in approved plan No. D93043, Out of Hundreds (Parachilna), from the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

This has been a work in progress for some time. It was first brought to my attention that this land swap needed to take place long before I found myself in the role of shadow minister for the environment. It was brought to my attention by a constituent of mine, Hallett Cove resident Mr Kym Groves. Mr Groves has had a long-term association with the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park through his involvement in the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby Preservation Association.

Mr Groves has been a strong advocate, a very passionate advocate, that this land swap needed to take place to enhance the quality of the environment in the national park, expand its reach into a more productive and high biodiversity landscape and also to bring in some portions of land with exceptional scenic views, which in turn could add to the overall quality of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

For a number of years, the government has been negotiating this mutually beneficial land swap with Willow Springs Station, which is found adjacent to the south-eastern boundary of the national park, and an agreement was recently reached. I understand there has been a lot of backward and forward between the department and the interested parties to this agreement, and I thank the public servants who have been involved in what has been at times a difficult negotiation but one which has now been concluded, and that is why it is before both houses of parliament this week.

The agreement proposes that Willow Springs Station surrender a parcel of land, which is known locally as Block 101 and which has high biodiversity and landscape value, from the pastoral lease at Willow Springs for addition to the national park. As I mentioned before, the proposed land to be added to the park contains significant intact biodiversity and spectacular scenic views. The land to be added to the national park from Willow Springs is 1,350 hectares in size.

In return, the land swap will see a portion of land better suited to pastoral activities excised from the national park for addition to the Willow Springs Station pastoral lease. The land to be excised from the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is 900 hectares, and that obviously leaves the national park with a balance of land overall that is slightly larger than it currently is. The addition of the land to the park does not require the approval of parliament and will proceed once parliament has considered the excision today.

I would like to commend this motion to the house and thank all those who have been involved in what have been long-term and difficult negotiations. In particular, I thank my constituent, Mr Kym Groves of the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby Preservation Association, for bringing this to my attention some three years ago. I thank him for his work in preserving that unique natural environment.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (17:02): I rise to support this motion, as you would expect, and I will not hold the house very long at all. The Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is a remarkable natural asset and the home, as you are aware, Deputy Speaker, of the Adnyamathanha people.

When I was in fourth year at high school our school camp was to the Flinders Ranges, and I had never been there before. We travelled from Henley High School in a bus to stay at Wilpena Pound in the tents that were there then, and I woke up in the morning, opened the tent and could not believe what I was seeing. At that stage, being a young man, I did not know a place like that existed in South Australia. It is nothing but absolute beauty, and I am pleased that this great asset to South Australia is also now under the control and the care of the Adnyamathanha people—their traditional land.

The area includes the Heysen Range, Brachina Gorge, Bunyeroo Gorge and the vast amphitheatre of mountains that is Wilpena Pound—and a wonderful, wonderful site both from the ground and the air. Visitors to the national park have the opportunity to undertake a cultural tour with Adnyamathanha elders that is highly regarded. Their spiritual and cultural connection to the land stretches back thousands of years, and there are many artefacts and culturally important traditional sites across the region.

I remember when the hand-back to the Adnyamathanha people occurred in the Flinders Ranges. I was the minister at the time and we held a function. I think the member for Stuart was there, too. It was a very colourful speech by Vince Coulthard, as you would expect, and he took the lectern, which was a DEWNR lectern, and I said, 'I'm giving this back to you.' Of course, he was not just implying it, but he was saying, 'You're only giving back what was ours anyway', and it was a colourful speech.

I went for a walk with Vince to go under a tree, and there are magnificent trees there—these great big camaldulensis, the river red gums—and this tree must have been 600 or 700 years old. I said, 'Vince, your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather probably sat under this tree—or even further back.' It is just an amazing sight. They have a great connection to their land, and it was a very proud event that day for me to be involved in being able to ensure that it was returned to the traditional owners. I know they also have the care and control of the Wilpena Pound Resort. I have not kept my ear to the ground as to how that is going, but I hope it is going very well. Again, that is a great asset to South Australia and the Adnyamathanha people, and I hope that it is operating well.

The spiritual and cultural connection to the land stretches back thousands of years. There is also the fascinating restored Old Wilpena Station. I have been there quite a few times, and it is beautiful. The station contains historical remains from pastoral and mining activities that date back to the 1850s, and without doubt it is one of the most scenically spectacular pastoral settlements in South Australia. A working station for 135 years, Old Wilpena Station slipped into retirement in 1985. The settlement is now a tranquil archive of pastoral history, and 'tranquil' is the right word.

The substance of today's motion is about adding new land, as both the minister and the opposition spokesperson mentioned, with a high conservation value to the national park. The agreement will see a parcel of land with high biodiversity and landscape value added to the national park in exchange for land better suited to pastoral activities. It makes a lot of common sense. The result of this will be a 450-hectare expansion of the 90,000-hectare national park. With those few words, I commend the motion to the house and I congratulate those people who negotiated this outcome.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (17:05): I thank those people who have spoken before me. I agree with the things they have said. Certainly, the opposition supports this motion. I support this motion because it is an agreement between the government and the pastoral leaseholder in question, which has been confirmed in writing. In fact, it has been confirmed in writing twice, once in an exchange of letters and also by a deed signed by my constituent Mr Brendan Reynolds of the Reynolds family and Willow Springs Station.

We are talking about a very important area of land in our state. It has been important to the Adnyamathanha people for tens of thousands of years and important to pastoralists for 150 years at least, and of course it is an area that is very important to our state environmentally. No doubt we all would and should have the goal of making sure that those three things can work well together, that local Aboriginal people can continue to be connected to and engaged in their culture, that pastoralists can use the area productively and usefully for their commercial benefit—and that of the state, by the way, because everything that is produced in our regions is to the benefit of our entire state. This area is an important homeland to the pastoralists as well, who have been there for many generations. All that must be done while protecting the environment.

I do not doubt that all of us in this chamber have those goals together, but I have to share with the house some very genuine concerns that have come to me from my constituent Mr Brendan Reynolds. The Reynolds family has been in this part of the Flinders Ranges for a very long time. There are quite a few branches of the Reynolds family. The immediate family we are talking about at the moment are Brendan and Carmel Reynolds, their daughter, Michelle, who runs their tourism business, and their son, Chris, who manages another station nearby with his family, but is still, and will be into the future, very involved in the pastoral side of the Willow Springs business.

It is also worth pointing out that Willow Springs, from a tourism perspective, is a well-recognised, award-winning business. These are very capable, very responsible people who have put their hearts and souls into developing their home, developing their business and developing their region. They have been recognised for that with many awards for their tourism offers, which includes the Skytrek offer at Willow Springs. Having laid that as the groundwork, I have to say that Brendan Reynolds has expressed very deep and very genuine concern with me about this land swap. He has agreed to it, and he is not seeking to undo it—let's be as clear as possible about that—but I will summarise some information that he has given to me over the last couple of years about this issue.

He says that in around 1987 his father, Kevin Reynolds, wrote to National Parks outlining his concern about the grazing pressure around the woolshed at Willow Springs Station and the state of the Willow Springs Station-Flinders Ranges National Park boundary fence near Skull Rock. He was advised that his idea of a land swap back then was not possible because it required parliamentary approval.

In approximately 1990, Brendan and a representative of the government came to an agreement of swapping two parcels of land which created a win-win for both parties and solved the land management issue—two sections of the national park for one equal sized section of Willow Springs Station, which has become known as Block 101. As the member for Bright (shadow minister for the environment) mentioned, one of the reasons this has been wanted to happen for quite a long time is that inside the park is some relatively good grazing land, inside Willow Springs Station is some less useful grazing land but higher in value from the biodiversity perspective, and it made sense to do that swap.

When it was first contemplated, it was going to be a swap of essentially the same number of hectares for the same number of hectares. The park would get land that it preferred to have, Willow Springs Station would get land that it preferred to have. In the interim, Willow Springs Station started leasing some of that land from the park, which was a very sensible, useful thing. They could use the land responsibly for their pastoral pursuit, land that really the park did not hold in as high a value as other parts of the park or as the part of Willow Springs Station the park wanted to get.

Just to continue on with the information from Mr Reynolds, over the years circumstances have changed, particularly with regard to the number of hectares to be swapped. Again, as the shadow minister for the environment pointed out, Willow Springs Station is giving up a lot more country than the park is giving up, and that was not the way it was to be earlier on.

It was discovered that the boundary of the Skull Rock area was not surveyed to where it was originally believed to be and, despite Mr Reynolds' best efforts to plead with the then regional director of national parks, the director refused to rectify this mistake and without Mr Reynolds' consent selected two points on a map and drew a line as the boundary, not realising that had put Skull Rock into the Bunkers Conservation Reserve by approximately 100 metres, making the original proposal even more one-sided. For the benefit of people here and for Hansard, I am summarising what Mr Reynolds has given me rather than quoting it directly.

Much later, this area was physically surveyed by two retired surveyors who found the boundary to be even farther out than believed at the time, but the then regional director would not rectify the mistake, according to Mr Reynolds. The Reynolds family then engaged a lawyer and met with parks/government representatives and a compromise was reached that Willow Springs Station clients would have access to the viewing platform. This was agreed by the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby Preservation Association also.

As to this boundary, the bit of land that is to be swapped comes very close to the Bunkers area, which is precious for many reasons, not least of which is the yellow-footed rock wallabies, but also the Skull Rock area is an extraordinary piece of geology to have a look at. It was and is very important for the Reynolds family that they are able to continue taking people through this area as part of their tourism business so that they can access it and have a look at the Skull Rock area. They did not need to climb on the rocks, they do not need to get onto that piece of land, but they did need to have access to be able to take people to where they could get a great view of it. That is why these boundaries have been so important, not because anybody is trying to be too fiddly about whether it is 100 metres here or there, but because access to a certain place to get the right view is very important.

In the past 23 years, the Reynolds family has continually tried to finalise the land swap and in the meantime Willow Springs has invested huge amounts of money and time into rabbit ripping and refencing the southern and eastern boundaries, installed a watering point and constructed a campground. That is all in the area that Willow Springs has been leasing in the park and is about to receive into their pastoral lease.

The reason I wanted to go through that is that it is important that everybody here understands the concerns of my constituent. I say again that he is not looking to undo this deal; he has agreed to it in writing, but he does feel that he has been pressured into this. With these negotiations starting in the late 1980s with his father and concluding very recently, he does feel that the original deal was much better for him than the current deal with regard to the area being swapped. Essentially, 900 acres are being swapped for 1,350 acres, so the park is getting 50 per cent extra land in terms of hectares compared to what it actually has at the moment.

Another important issue is that, over the time that the Reynolds have leased the area of the park that they are soon to gain permanently through this land swap, they have naturally invested in it. As I said, they have put in a watering point, done work on fences and put in a campground. It is therefore very hard for them not to proceed with the swap. The government might well say, 'Well, that was their choice. They leased that land. There was no guarantee that they would ever keep it. There was nothing in writing to say that it was theirs. They invested that at their own risk.'

That would be true, but the Reynolds family could not just sit there and do nothing with that land. They could not leave it in the original condition. They needed to develop and upgrade it. Probably most important is the fact that their upgrades belong to them—the upgrades that the Reynolds family put into this area they are now about to receive permanently, but they actually already belong to them. It is not as if the park or the government is in the position of saying, 'We are giving you a watering point.' Well, the Reynolds family put the watering point in that land to begin with. The only thing the government has to swap is actually the land itself.

I thought it was very important to put that on the record. As recently as 14 June, Mr Reynolds put in writing to me many thoughts about this land swap, including the fact that he feels that he has been dealt with unfairly. Yes, he has agreed to it because he thinks that he does not have any choice. He is actually quite bitter about the way he has been dealt with. I do not think for a second that any of the public servants that I have engaged with who are involved with this at the moment have deliberately done anything untoward or inappropriate. I do not think that is the case.

I think that what has happened is that the people acting on behalf of the government at the moment have looked at this long train of negotiation since the late 1980s and said, 'Look, it's our job to bring it to a head.' They have probably been tasked with just finalising the matter—just do the deal or walk away from it. Of course, part of walking away from it included telling the Reynolds family that, if they did not take the deal, the land that they leased in the park they would no longer be allowed to lease, so they would lose the investment that they had made, keeping in mind that this is land that the park has said it does not really want anyway.

I can understand how the Reynolds family would feel hard done by if they were told, 'If you don't do the deal, you lose the land, which by the way the government doesn't really want to have in the park anyway, and then you will lose all the upgrades that you have put into it.' So, I have great sympathy for the Reynolds family in this situation. I say again that it is not because I think the people I have worked with on other matters have deliberately gone out of their way to do anything particularly harmful to the Reynolds family, but the Reynolds family have been dealing with this for a long time.

They would have liked to extend the negotiations and they have basically been told, 'Take the offer as it is today or all bets are off, including that you will not be allowed to continue to lease the land that you have leased.' That would have been for the Reynolds, of course, an even worse outcome than the one they have taken on at the moment. Another aspect I want to make sure the house is aware of is that Mr Reynolds put forward quite a few suggestions to the government about how he could proceed with the land swap but have security of access through the land that will become part of the national park so that he can get to this very important Skull Rock point. He put quite a few suggestions forward about trying to keep a freehold corridor at the boundary, etc., that were knocked back by the government.

The Reynolds family just wants to know that, after the land swap, they will still be able to run their tourism business through this area. The government offered them the ability to have a certified tourism operator's agreement, which lasts for three years, and that is good, but of course, if you have a multigenerational pastoral and tourism business, you want more than three years. I have to say that I thank the government for agreeing very recently to allow the Reynolds to send their tourist guests on self-guided tours to the Skull Rock area, rather than the original requirement, which was that they would only be allowed to take their tourism guests on a guided tour to the Skull Rock area. That was a very important concession to make and I think a very fair concession. It was not hurting the government, the environment or anybody else who has an interest in this, so it was important to do that.

I will certainly do everything I can with regard to helping the Reynolds family and the government maintain sensible, working, productive relationships well into the future. I hope, if I am re-elected, to be able to contribute to doing that because this is very important locally. As we all know, whether we are city or country-based MPs, there can be arrangements that are entered into on behalf of the government that are part of a day's work but, at the same time, that exact same arrangement on behalf of our constituents is not just part of a day's work. It could be their lifelong work, and a very different attitude, approach and priority are given to these things.

I know that the Reynolds family will do everything they can to respect the agreement that has been reached, which we are discussing today. It seems certain that this will be implemented. The land swap will go ahead as proposed, and I support that land swap because I see merit in it and because my constituent has agreed to it in writing. So, I support it, as does the opposition, but I thought it very important to put those concerns on the record on behalf of my constituents.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (17:23): I thank the member for Stuart for his contribution. This area is in his electorate, and I think he has very ably presented the views of the Reynolds family and some of the frustration that has been experienced through this very, very long process. Of course, my electorate does not cover this area, but the Flinders Ranges are very important to some of the communities that I represent, especially Quorn and Hawker, as they are the main magnet for visitation to the area.

As the member for Stuart indicated, the area is especially important to the Aboriginal Adnyamathanha people who live in that area, and some who live elsewhere now, as well as the pastoralists and other residents who make the Flinders Ranges and surrounding areas their home.

When we talk about long negotiations and the Flinders Ranges, it puts it into perspective. Flinders Ranges is part of the fault of the sediments of the Adelaide Geosyncline. When we talk about an ancient land, the range itself, in a far grander form, underwent its formation back in the Cambrian Period some 540 million years ago. I remember many years ago having a conversation with Doug Reilly. I think he still lives at Chinamans Creek. Doug is a real character. He indicated that the Flinders Ranges, at one stage, were somewhat close in height to the Himalayas. So, over the preceding 540 million years, we have had ongoing erosion, which has created this state's beautiful and most significant range.

My connection, outside of being the member for Giles and representing Quorn and Hawker, dates back many years, although nowhere near as many as some people. As a resident of Whyalla, I used to visit the Flinders Ranges on many occasions, initially with my mates and then with my family. It was always a test of the old man's fitness that I had to keep up with my two young lads. I know the sensitivities about climbing St Mary Peak. After doing the St Mary Peak climb, coming back through Wilpena Pound, a 22-kilometre trip, I was always grateful for a refreshing ale at the hotel at Wilpena. I did not have to shout the lads anything, apart from a soda water, because they were too young to drink.

A lot of people in South Australia are like me in that we are visitors to the Flinders Ranges. We do not live there, but we do appreciate the beauty of the Flinders Ranges. It was not all that long ago that the extent of human habitation in the Flinders Ranges was pushed back even further than was previously thought. It was almost an accidental find. I think it was over 40,000 years, but it might be closer to 50,000. The presence of the original inhabitants of the Flinders Ranges now dates back a lot further than we thought.

That connection to land is incredibly deep, so it surprises me that we are having a debate about putting a national nuclear waste facility in the Flinders Ranges, given all the other potential options that we have in this state and elsewhere. I know that it has caused some deep division. We are here to talk about the national park and the change of the boundary. The park is renowned for its natural geological significance and beauty. It is part of the South Australian identity. I do not think I need to explain where it is. It is 450 kilometres north of Adelaide, just outside the electorate of Giles.

The park is co-managed with the Adnyamathanha people and it provides a wonderful opportunity for visitors to experience landscapes, wildlife and Aboriginal culture. The Adnyamathanha people are the traditional owners of the Flinders Ranges area, having lived there for tens of thousands of years. The connection to land stretches back many thousands of years. As part of the manifestation of that connection, we have ancient rock paintings through the Flinders Ranges. Rock paintings and engravings can be seen at Arkaroo Rock, Sacred Canyon and the Perawurtina Cultural Heritage Site and in other locations through the Flinders Ranges as well.

By expanding the park, we will give visitors and tourists even more reasons to visit this incredible landscape and, hopefully, that will generate jobs and local economic opportunities, both for the Aboriginal people and for Europeans in the area. The member for Stuart mentioned the Reynolds and their activities, in relation not just to pastoralism but also to tourism. There are a number of operators in the Flinders Ranges who help generate economic opportunity and give visitors the opportunity sometimes to see areas that we otherwise would not see. Of course, the Aboriginal people are now intimately involved in the running of Wilpena Pound, so I hope that turns out to be a success.

It is a fantastic outcome and it is a credit to the staff, but I take on board the words of the member for Stuart. It is never good when somebody is left feeling somewhat aggrieved by the process. It can be a message to government that we can get good results through processes like this, but we have to mindful of a range of issues—the local sensitivities, listening to locals and making sure that we make the effort to get it right.

Sometimes it is difficult when the negotiations have been incredibly protracted because of the lack of continuity within the Public Service. People move on and other people take over. Sometimes that loss of continuity means a bit of a loss of the history and, of course, the Reynolds have been there now for generations. I think that is something we do need to bear in mind. Nonetheless, this is a good result and it is an additional national park attribute for the state with the inclusion of this section.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (17:32): I rise to speak today on the motion before us that involves the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, alterations to the boundary of any national park require the resolution of both houses of parliament and a subsequent proclamation by the Governor, and that is precisely what we are doing here today.

We have heard much of the story of how we have come to be here, particularly from the member for Stuart whose electorate within this lies. He highlighted the protracted nature of the negotiations. In excess of 30 years was my calculation of it and it has not always been easy. It has been difficult, and the member for Stuart articulated how difficult these negotiations can sometimes be. For over 30 years, the government has been negotiating a mutually beneficial land swap with Willow Springs Station, the lease of which is owned by the Reynolds family. It is found adjacent to the south-eastern boundary of the national park.

This agreement was recently reached and proposes that Willow Springs Station surrenders a parcel of land, known as Block 101, with high biodiversity and landscape value from their pastoral lease for addition to the park. The proposed land to be added to the park contains significant intact biodiversity and spectacular views. The land to be added to the national park from Willow Springs is 1,350 acres in size. In return, a portion of land better suited to the pastoral activities of the Reynolds family is proposed to be excised from the park for addition to the Willow Springs Station's pastoral lease, so it is a true land swap.

However, the land to be excised from the Ikara-Flinders National Park is 900 acres, so it is significantly smaller, a difference of 450 hectares, or 1,000 acres. The addition of land to the park does not require the approval of parliament and will proceed once parliament has considered the excision.

The Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is a beautiful place. I have been fortunate enough to visit it a number of times. As the member for Colton said, he first visited it as a schoolboy in fourth year. I think I was probably the same age when I first visited the Flinders Ranges. I have also been fortunate enough to visit Wilpena Pound, which of course is probably the central feature of this particular national park. The Heysen and Mawson trails also pass through the park.

The park's most characteristic landmark is Wilpena Pound, a large, sickle-shaped natural amphitheatre covering nearly 80 kilometres and containing the range's highest peak, St Mary Peak. On 12 February 2016, the park was renamed to include the Adnyamathanha word 'Ikara' which means 'meeting place', referring to the traditional name for Wilpena Pound.

I was rather intrigued by a story my father told me many years ago about some near neighbours who were farming near Cummins, which is where I grew up and where our family farmed. It was the story of the Hill family. I knew Colin Hill, who since passed away; he certainly would be in his 90s by now. His son John and grandson Jarrad continued to farm just west of Cummins, out by our road. My farmer told me that Colin Hill's father and grandfather had farmed wheat inside Wilpena Pound.

It intrigued me and stuck in my memory, so when this particular motion came up I decided to do a little bit of research. I found out that what my father had told me was in fact correct. In 1901, the Hill family obtained the lease over Wilpena Pound. The original John Hill arrived in South Australia in 1836 on The Buffalo, so the Hill family has been here since European settlement began. The Hill family obtained the lease in 1901, and they decided to try farming, something never before attempted so far north.

Goyder's line had proven rather accurate with regard to agricultural expansion in the great drought of the 1880s. Wilpena Pound is some 140 kilometres north of Goyder's line. Being in the shadow of some of the highest mountains of the Flinders, rainfall in the pound is a little higher and sometimes even snow falls on St Mary Peak. The Hill family was determined to try it. After the immense labour of constructing a road through the tortuous Wilpena Gap, they built a small homestead inside the pound, which still stands today. They then cleared some open patches in the thick scrub of the interior of the pound.

For several years, the Hill family had moderate success growing crops inside the pound. In fact, my recollection is that you can find inside the pound some old farm machinery; maybe there is a stripper and a plougher there somewhere. In 1914, there was a major flood, and the road through the gorge was destroyed. It must have been a summer flood because the irony of 1914 is that there was a very severe drought. I remember my uncle, Mick Wagner, telling me that, of all the droughts he saw, 1914 was the worst. Somewhere in that time, there must been a flood, a thunderstorm that went through Wilpena Pound and destroyed the road through the gorge.

Unfortunately for the Hill family, they could not bear to start all over again and sold their homestead to the government, so this negotiation of occupiers with government has been going on for a long time. I can only assume that in 1914 the Hill family moved from there to take up a block west of Cummins. So, there you go: it stuck in my mind and I have learned something today about the history of the park, Wilpena Pound and the Hill family.

The Flinders Ranges are largely composed of folded and faulted sediments of the Adelaide Geosyncline. Most of the high ground and ridge tops in the Flinders are sequences of quartz sites that outcrop along the strike. The flora of the Flinders Ranges is composed largely of species adapted to a semi-arid environment such as cypress pine, mallee and black oak. The moister areas near Wilpena Pound support grevilleas, Guinea flowers, lilies and ferns. Reeds and sedges grow near permanent water sources such as springs and waterholes.

Since the eradication of dingoes and the establishment of permanent waterholes for stock, the numbers of red kangaroos, western grey kangaroos and euros in the area have increased. The yellow-footed rock wallaby, which neared extinction after the arrival of Europeans due to hunting and predation by foxes, has now stabilised, and other endemic marsupials include dunnarts and planigales. Echidnas are the sole monotreme species in the park, and I am sure that since the removal of foxes and dingoes they have also increased in numbers. Bats make up a significant proportion of mammals in the area and reptiles include goannas, snakes, dragon lizards, skinks and geckos. There is also an endemic amphibian known as the streambank froglet.

I am very pleased to support the motion. I understand the difficulty of the negotiation, which the member for Stuart highlighted. Hopefully, it finishes up being a win-win situation for the government and the Reynolds family as well and that this addition to the park can be enjoyed by many people for many years to come.

Ms COOK (Fisher) (17:41): I commend the motion moved by the Minister for Education and Child Development on behalf of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation in the other place. We have heard some lovely stories and detail about the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and the important role it plays in attracting new and returning tourists to our state. It certainly is an area of serenity and isolation, which makes it such an enticing place for pilgrimage for visitors from both home and abroad.

As stated before, it is located about 450 kilometres or a four-hour drive north of Adelaide, which makes me reflect on how odd it was that, as a child, it used to take us two days to get there from Adelaide because I cannot quite work out why we always stopped overnight. I heard the member for Flinders talk about flooding and how it affected the area. I can tell you that one time we went when I must have been a very small child, as I will explain. We had to stay in the town of Hawker on the way up because there was a massive flood, and we were caught in a big car park lot with all the caravanners as the water lapped up to our door. You can imagine, as your mother used to hold you out into the street to go to the toilet, it was quite awkward. I think I was very young, fortunately, at that particular point, but there was an enormous flood, which I believe would have been somewhere in the mid-seventies, and I am sure it would have provided some damage to the local area.

I have some really wonderful memories. I remember my father coming from England in the mid-sixties as the Ten pound Pom. He was determined that we would act out episodes of Burke and Wills' great adventures when we were caravanning up in the Flinders Ranges. We would often get there late at night, and he would force my mother to get out and wave her hands wildly so that he would not reverse into a pine tree as we reversed into what he thought was the best park. But as soon as Mum would shut the door, he would say, 'Don't tell your mother, but there is a tree full of spiders out the back.' The trees would be full of red-backs, and you would hear her shriek and run to the car. It was a joke and all in good fun.

I remember many adventures—falling into creeks and treading in areas where you swore nobody had ever set foot before, the smell of the area, the beautiful sunset and the crisp afternoons. Some of that was in Wilpena Pound, but some was in surrounding areas. We used to camp in creek beds, which was absolutely crazy because of course we know what can happen in flood in the creek beds. I also remember that we would drive up to Blinman. As a young teenager, I believe that was my first experience of a shandy, standing at the front of the Blinman pub. I also remember the curry my father copped because he did not pack the potatoes. I think they cost about a dollar each, and we had to buy some from the Blinman General Store. Those are my memories of the Flinders Ranges as a young child.

Having since returned to see the glamping safari tents, the campgrounds and restaurants, the beautiful Adnyamathanha cultural trails and the bus tours, all those wonderful things that now exist in organised ecotourism of course benefit us greatly as a state. I really appreciate them, but I think that the journey and the experience are very different now from when I was a child. I am reliably informed that the scenic flight over Ikara is one of the most beautiful and spectacular experiences. I would like to be able to help my children to experience that at some point in the future.

Protecting and preserving Ikara is so incredibly important not only for the heritage and biodiversity of South Australia but for our tourism sector. The fact that our Labor government is committed to expanding the tourism sector by $8 billion, providing 41,000 jobs by 2020, is backed up by what we are doing to protect our parks and our natural biodiversity. It is about long-term sustainability for our state in jobs and tourism. Flow-on tourism associated industries will be critical as we continue to transition to our carbon-constrained future.

I have no hesitation in commending the boundary changes of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. I pay my respects to the elders of the land and use this opportunity to express my thoughts and feelings around the shame and pity it would be to make any area near that beautiful place a site for a nuclear waste dump of any kind. It would be a terrible, terrible shame. I would like to commend this motion to the house and thank the ministers here and in the other place.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (17:46): I will speak very briefly to conclude this discussion. I am very grateful for the support on both sides of the chamber for this motion. I would like to note that the proposition is one that will benefit all South Australians, and I am glad that both sides of the chamber have been able to support it.

I appreciate the history that has been given of some of the very complex arrangements that have been negotiated over very many years that have finally arrived in this settlement. I appreciate that the member for Stuart has been complimentary about the public servants he has dealt with. I was a colleague of many of the people who have been involved over the years, and I know that they would have acted in the best possible way for the good of the state; nonetheless, I acknowledge that there has been a complex history in coming up with this final agreement. On that note, I would like to commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

At 17:47 the house adjourned until Thursday 22 June 2017 at 10:30.