Natural Resources Management

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:11): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister detail to the house how the state government has been engaging with regional communities regarding the government's commitment to natural resources management reform?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:11): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question and also for being so hospitable when I visited the South-East of our state on a three-day tour of that important region last week. During that time, it was great to be able to talk not only to the member but to the many stakeholders he brought together—along with the Department for Environment and Water, the EPA and SA Water, all entities I have responsibility for—to discuss the value of our natural landscape and, in particular, how the new government plans to put in place a management framework that will really value that landscape, protect its biodiversity and ensure that it is able to form a key foundation for our sustainable regional economy.

We know it is only with a healthy, vibrant natural environment in our regions that the regions can do that heavy lifting in terms of our state's economy overall when it comes to productive agricultural landscapes. The government made it very clear in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, for many months leading into that election, that we were absolutely committed to reforming natural resources management and the way that framework is used in our state to deliver on both environmental and economic outcomes, particularly in our regions.

It has been our view, and I believe it has been the view of many people in our regional areas, that natural resources management as a governance framework had drifted too far into metropolitan Adelaide, too far into the bureaucracy, and had really lost sight of the communities that it was very clearly initially set up to serve when soil, pest and water boards were merged in the early 2000s under the previous government. Integrated natural resources management is a good idea in theory and in principle. I believe it got off to quite a good start but drifted further and further away from the service it gives to regional communities looking after our environments and sustaining regional economies.

As part of the government's broad-ranging natural resources management reform and our concept to establish Landscape South Australia, the replacement body for natural resources management, we will be undertaking a vast and very deep consultation exercise over the coming weeks and months. That will kick off in a couple of weeks' time with visits to all the NRM regions as they currently stand, having a series of public meetings and stakeholder meetings to engage with the people who engage with our natural landscape on a day in, day out basis because we know that relying on their knowledge and their understanding, their day-to-day connection and often their love and passion for that natural landscape is so important.

All too often, government doesn't rely on the people on the ground for insight and advice. Through this new body that we set up, Landscape South Australia, we are going to ensure that we are relying on that knowledge and understanding. We are respecting it. We are valuing it and we are setting up a back-to-basics approach to NRM in this state focused on soil quality, water catchment management and pest control, overlaid with the importance of sustainable agriculture. Part of that is sustaining biodiversity. This is something that I will be bringing to the house on many occasions in the coming months. Our aim is to introduce, early next year, that body of new legislation so we can continue to transform natural resources management in this state.