Yorke Peninsula Ecotourism

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister update the house on his recent visit to Innes National Park and some of the ecotourism opportunities identified during that visit?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:39): I thank the member for Narungga for that question. I know he is an incredibly passionate advocate for his region and it was great to be hosted by him a few weeks ago when I travelled to Yorke Peninsula. I headed over there on a weekend, went up on the Friday night and was able to attend the Yorke Peninsula Tourism Awards, which was an excellent entree to the rest of the weekend.

We had the opportunity to see a showcase of the many tourism opportunities that are available in that unique part of South Australia. It benefits from such dramatic coastal landscape and draws tourists from across our state and also further afield, both nationally and internationally. It was great to be able to spend some time with local tourism operators on the Friday night and have a chat to them about the challenges and opportunities that their industry faces on Yorke Peninsula, and the support that they would like to receive from our new government when it comes to developing the industry that contributes so much to our regional economy.

The main part of my trip, following the tourism awards on the Friday night, was to head down onto the main body of the peninsula, visiting Ardrossan and the artificial oyster reef which has been established off the coast of Ardrossan. The member for Narungga and I went out there with the Nature Conservancy, which has been a not-for-government partner, along with the state government and the federal government, to deliver that artificial reef off the coast of Ardrossan. That's not only an environmental asset but of course an important tourism asset as well.

Then we headed down to Innes National Park, which really is one of the great jewels in the crown of our reserve system here in South Australia—a stunning national park at the foot of Yorke Peninsula, which has the most incredible coastal landscape and a wild coastline. It's an incredibly important coastline for nature, whether it be white-bellied sea eagles or ospreys, and a variety of other natural fauna to be found in that area. It was a great place to visit.

Building on the work of the previous government, the new government is looking to develop more nature-based tourism opportunities, particularly within our regional communities. There has been a market process going on to develop those ideas at around 18 sites across the state. Those sites include the already developed footprint down in Innes National park. That national park has a history of mining and has a number of degraded spots which could be developed without a significant impact on the existing precious natural environment.

It was good, when I was down in Innes National Park, to inspect the sites where these nature-based tourism opportunities are, particularly when it comes to the provision of high-end tourism and accommodation options. We know that regional South Australia does need more high-end accommodation options and this is exactly the sort of thing that this government would like to partner with the private sector to develop in Innes National Park.

We have gone through a market-based process and that closed on 31 July. We are now looking forward to going through a more rigorous commercial process with those businesses which have put forward their proposals. As I say, one of those is for Innes National Park. It is an incredible part of our state. It has the opportunity to provide a very significant drawcard to regional South Australia and to stimulate the economy on Yorke Peninsula. I look forward to updating and working alongside the member for Narungga and other members of this house as we provide more information on those opportunities.