Motions

World Ranger Day

Ms LUETHEN (King) (16:54): I move:

That this house—

(a) acknowledges that 31 July 2018 was World Ranger Day; and

(b) acknowledges the important and significant role that rangers play in protecting and preserving our natural environment.

I rise to bring this important motion and want to take the opportunity to reflect on World Ranger Day and outline to the house how the new government values the positive influence that rangers have on our natural environment. Our government recognises that in South Australia we are extremely fortunate and privileged to be home to a wide array of stunning natural resources that we should support and grow.

Every day our rangers are performing critical roles in our parks and reserves to ensure that environmental and public safety incidents are kept to a minimum. The current Liberal government is here to protect our environment through practical environmental policies that ensure long-term sustainability of our precious natural habitats, rather than creating unnecessary challenges for our environment and resources that resulted under the previous government. Our practical policy, as set out before the election and committed to in the 2018-19 state budget, will increase the number of rangers by over 20 per cent over the next four years.

Park rangers are at the forefront of conservation in South Australia. Unlike the previous government, which oversaw a decline in ranger numbers, from more than 200 in 2002 to just 83 in 2018, this government is committed to rangers and the protection of our natural environment. We value park rangers because park rangers play an extremely important role in maintaining and preserving our beautiful national parks right across the state. This budget line will provide on-ground support through the addition of an extra 20 park rangers.

Members of my local community have shared with me how supportive they are of our government's proposed changes. The people living in King are blessed to have two very special national parks nestled in the heart of King: the Cobbler Creek Recreation Park and the Para Wirra Conservation Park. These parks preserve a very special piece of environmental landscape in my local area which can be explored by members of the community from across the state. I am blessed to have the outstanding Para Wirra Conservation Park.

The second park to be declared in South Australia, Para Wirra is rich in Aboriginal, European, geological and natural history. Para Wirra Conservation Park is readily accessible to families from Adelaide, being an easy 20-minute drive from Elizabeth, 40 minutes from the CBD and luckily only 15 minutes from Golden Grove. This park is a popular destination for bushwalking, picnics, educational activities and nature appreciation. Many South Australian families have grown up with a family tradition of playing tennis and having a barbecue annually in the Para Wirra recreation park. The park has seen its popularity increase over the past year, with 70,000 visitors expected in 2018.

The Wirra Campground at Para Wirra opened on 1 June, offering families a fantastic introduction to the great outdoors. There are 19 campsites, including a large group site, available for tents, caravans, camper trailers, campervans, and it has accessible toilets. There is also a great outdoor kitchen. My husband and son camped there just over a couple of weeks ago and they had a terrific time together, exploring nature, riding bikes, and they even got to have a campfire. Since the redevelopment upgrade, the new campground has attracted over 270 groups and approximately 1,000 people staying the night.

There are also significant improvements to the Gawler View picnic area, development of a nature play forest, an easy discovery trail which is suitable for pushers, prams and those with limited mobility, and improvements to the lake trail path and the new accessible trails. Recently, I had the pleasure of joining some of my fellow members of Friends of Para Wirra in assisting with a school visit by local year 3 students from One Tree Hill Primary School. The friends group and I were joined by local park rangers who did so much for the students to introduce them to the planting, weeding and exploring of the park. The rangers and volunteers oversaw the activities which allowed students to get their hands dirty and the students loved it.

What was most exciting for the children was a 'water watch' activity, which allowed them to get up close to some of the creatures that call Para Wirra home. The students were instructed to scoop buckets of water and sediment from the lake and place small specimens under magnifying equipment. It was fantastic to see just how engaged the students were with these activities, and they were absolutely amazed when one lucky water watcher found a very small fish in their specimen.

Activities such as these are extremely important for the development of young children, and this is another reason why park rangers are so incredibly important. I hope these wonderful activities will inspire a lifelong interest for these children in caring and respecting the environment. In addition, hopefully these children will learn how spending time in nature can be a good way of switching off and feeling good. The rangers on the day assisted the students to know what type of behaviour can be damaging to their local environment, and the negative effect those behaviours can have on the creatures that call this environment home.

These parks are extremely important. Being able to show students firsthand a delicate, local environment so close to their school is very impactful and gives them a real-world example to help them understand the challenges faced by these natural habitats. I thank the Friends of Para Wirra. This incredible group of volunteers has an incredible dedication to the amazing environmental asset that Para Wirra presents to the electorate of King and the broader state.

I have been speaking to the Minister for Environment (member for Black) and he has shown great care and concern for Para Wirra. This started in the past 12 months, in the early days when the new camping ground was being talked about and local people were worried about the disruption to the habitat and wood. With his support, we erected new signs to instruct people to bring their own wood, and this is even being built into the camping booking process. This has given us a level of comfort around responsible use of the park and not disrupting the wood. The rangers we are putting into the parks will look over this as well.

I was also pleased to host the minister on 4 October at the Para Wirra Discovery Day. At this event, we celebrated the successful collaboration between Parks SA, Nature Play and Autism SA, and encouraged families with autistic children to come along and enjoy Para Wirra Conservation Park's new opportunities. This allowed children to experience the fun of building cubbies and riding on the new bike trials, and to enjoy the benefits of being outdoors. The minister was also able to meet the Friends of Para Wirra group and saw their commitment to the park.

Under the Labor government, the number of park rangers reduced substantially, leaving our national and conservation parks, including Para Wirra Conservation Park, open to a range of problems. It makes perfect sense that increasing visitation to our park goes hand in hand with increases in ranger numbers. Under this new government, the minister has provided me with a commitment that Para Wirra will have a dedicated ranger service reinstated to protect the new development and ensure the area is preserved for generations to come.

I commend the member for Black for his vision to see the practical and sensitive development in our regions and greatly look forward to seeing our government's vision for the state's beautiful parks realised. While at Para Wirra, the minister stopped to have a chat to a local camper, who told us how impressed they were to see the amazing new camping area. They told us they had come all the way from down south to visit and stay at our park in King. Without our park rangers, we would not be able to enjoy these beautiful areas kept intact, as the rangers do so much to preserve and look after our natural environment.

Furthermore, another local example of the important work of rangers that I would like to share with the house occurred last month at the Cobbler Creek Recreation Park, which is also in King. I joined my fellow members of the Friends of Cobbler Creek and park rangers at a special event that showcased how staff control invasive wild olive trees using basal bark treatment. Natural resources staff assisted our group in passing on information about the controlling of wild olives, which out-compete native vegetation and reduce both flora and fauna biodiversity. These olives are also known to contain volatile oils, which increases bushfire risk.

It is activities like these, which are led by our park rangers, that help educate the Friends of the Park, colleagues working in the Department for Environment and Water, council staff and the wider community who play a vital part in protecting and nurturing our environment. A large group of attendees attended on the day and were shown the basal bark treatment, which involves treating the bark on the lower trunk of the tree with herbicide.

The major advantage of this type of treatment is that it can be applied in significantly less time than conventional drill-and-fill techniques, allowing a greater number of trees to be treated for the same cost, and also it is able to be easily applied on the very sloping areas of the park. Without park rangers identifying and addressing these concerns, I would have never known that these oils contained in this vegetation were going to increase bushfire risk. This is just another example of how the park rangers’ local knowledge of environmental factors can lead to a great benefit for the wider community.

The Marshall Liberal government has taken a back-to-basics approach to reset our state's environmental policy, and the increased numbers of rangers is a tangible example of real change. Additionally, the preservation of our parks is a result of great collaborative work of the Friends of Parks groups and the park rangers. These local volunteers assist park rangers in any way they can to help promote, protect and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of our local environment.

I spoke with local park volunteer Steve Rogers, who works closely with members of both Friends of Para Wirra and the Friends of Cobbler Creek. Mr Rogers said he believes that the park rangers are the professional custodians of these natural habitats, while the friends groups serve as the volunteer custodians, and by working together they achieve great things. Each group works collectively to protect the parks and provide a better natural space now and into the future.

Another local ranger, Aislinn McAleer, has been instrumental in supporting not only the Friends of Cobbler Creek but also local schools, volunteer bike enthusiasts and the local Rotary club. Also in King, Friends of Para Wirra president, Patsy Johnson, was equally complimentary of the work rangers do, and explained to me how appreciative she is of the work they do in our local park. Patsy said that local rangers are excellent at training and inspiring volunteers from park groups, schools and other community organisations, and they do this in an interesting, inspiring and encouraging manner.

These are the levels of community collaboration which fill me with such joy, because it shows the incredible amount of work and time which goes into preserving our natural areas. Both the Friends of Cobbler Creek, Para Wirra and park rangers from around the state should be commended for the incredible work they do together to provide greater good for our community. I want to personally thank all the friends of parks, Trees for Life, members, volunteers, park rangers, natural resources and council staff who do all they can to provide for our local community and for our natural environment.

I continually take the opportunity to promote our parks, and I call out to our King community members who have never visited the Para Wirra Conservation Park or Cobbler Creek Recreation Park. I urge you to visit and enjoy everything our local park has to offer. It is an interesting day out for families for all different ages. I can share that I have taken my son to both parks many times, and he has enjoyed getting his hands dirty, assisting with tree planting and cleaning up once a year with the Golden Grove Lions. These parks belong to all South Australians, so please visit your local parks, contact the local friends groups and learn about some of our most stunning areas in South Australia.

To our park rangers, without your strong advocacy for the local environment our national parks would not be as beautiful as they are. We must support this important work, and I am certain that, with the ongoing backing of the Marshall Liberal government, these rangers will be better equipped to tackle the many issues that present in these areas and preserve our parks for future generations.

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (17:09): I am delighted to support the motion brought forward by the member for King on World Ranger Day, although I think that World Ranger Day itself elapsed some time ago. Nonetheless, I am very happy to put on the record my support for the work done by rangers in our national parks. I have had quite a personal history with the various national parks around our state. My father, as a very keen ornithologist—or 'birdo', as we called them—would take the family out into the bush in most school holidays.

I was unaware for many years of my life that it was possible to go to a place that had showers and toilets. The way I was brought up, camping was just camping in the middle of a national park, in the designated area obviously, but without facilities available. I was delighted when I found out that there is another way of experiencing camping. The way the state has looked after national parks over decades has been nothing short of exemplary.

A reasonably high proportion of our state sits in a form of national park or conservation park. Pleasingly, a large amount of our state, I think about 180,000 hectares, is in the wilderness areas where there is utter protection from direct human interference to make sure that we preserve relevant parts of our environment. When I had the great privilege of working with the environment department, I was also able to visit many of our parks and visit with people who best understand the value of those parks and the fragility, beauty, productivity and risks in our park system.

I have been able to visit Kangaroo Island, the Gawler Ranges, Mamungari, Yumbarra, Ikara-Flinders Ranges—which of course is a co-managed park, as is Mamungari—and recently Innamincka Regional Reserve with the Natural Resources Committee. To be able to visit those parts of our state, sitting alongside people who know that land deeply, has been an extraordinary privilege, and I pay tribute to those people I spent time with for what they bring every day to their work.

Park ranger is one title; there are many people who work in parks. They all play a useful and important role. People involved in our national park system do an extraordinary range of jobs. Many are involved with fires, not only should a threat occur—which is not infrequent in our park system—but also in prescribed burning to try to keep as much security as possible around our park system and neighbouring landholders. Of course, biodiversity protection is a huge part of park rangers' duties. In particular, species recovery has been quite successful in some parts of the state, particularly through the Hills and also in the Flinders Ranges.

Having to manage pests, abundant native species and weeds is another not pleasant but necessary part of the job. When the Natural Resources Committee recently visited Kangaroo Island, some park land and some privately owned land, we could see how the department is working on using new technology to be able to do that kind of management better. The management of cats on Kangaroo Island is a crucial issue. The automation of that through a box that is able to determine whether the animal is in fact a cat and then put in poison that would be ingested only by a grooming animal, a cat, was a very exciting development.

My son's high school was down there recently working on how drones could be used to go into otherwise inaccessible land and identify weeds to which a herbicide could then be directly applied. Our parks are as old as the land in some ways, but the people who now manage them are availing themselves of the most modern of technology as well. Of course, people who work in our parks, including rangers, do an enormous amount of work with the First Peoples, the traditional owners of land. Increasingly over the time that I have been working and observing in this area, we have seen the co-management practice develop, which has been a superb model. I believe that we are amongst the best in Australia.

There are also, of course, the interactions with scientists. We constantly need to understand what is happening on our land, what the threats are and what can be done to make sure that we are preserving a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system (CARRS) that is able to preserve sufficient bits of our ecology, as well as working on the landscape scale which, of course, is currently probably top of the line for the minister in contemplating NRM reform.

Another user group that rangers and other workers have an enormous amount of interaction with are, of course, recreational users, people who come to enjoy the parks. I have seen a change in the attitude of the department and a change of relationship. Over the last 20 or so years, there has increasingly been a more welcoming approach to people who want to come into the parks and use them in ways which are not harmful to the values of the park but which enormously increase the engagement that the public has with the parks.

The member for King spoke very enthusiastically, and quite rightly, about the engagement of young children with parks. That is also true of adults, that the more they feel that the local park or the park they visit once a year is accessible and available to them, the more they are likely to want to invest in preserving and protecting our natural environment. My father has moved from being a 'birdo' to a 'runner' and is often a trail runner through the Hills.

His local member may be aware of this, but he has commented on the change in attitude in the department to facilitating those kinds of trail runs on departmental land. He recently fell over on one of his competitive runs and fractured his shoulder, but it was in the cause of something he loves and he has recovered well. That complexity of role is very demanding on rangers and other workers in parks, and it is right and proper that we take a moment in our parliament to congratulate them.

I know there is concern on the other side about the observation of a reduction in the number of people with the title 'ranger'. I was not involved in the portfolio in the last few years, so I do not know the detail. I understand that there has been quite a large increase in other workers, such as authorised officers and compliance officers, people working on the commercial sites and asset services. I am hopeful that the government's election commitment, which I support, to increase the number of rangers by 20, and also to increase the number of Aboriginal rangers in particular, does not come at the cost of other people who are currently working in the parks.

I know that it is a commitment that is being met within existing resources, but it will be interesting to see how it is reached. I hope that the government is able to do that without reducing the effort that is on-park. I am grateful to be able to be involved in another bipartisan motion. It is the third one I have spoken to in a couple of days. I am grateful to be able to record—

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: You will be joining the Liberal Party soon.

Dr CLOSE: I don't think you would have me.

Members interjecting:

Dr CLOSE: The minister indicates that he certainly would not have me. Nonetheless, I am pleased to be able to support this motion, and I am grateful for the opportunity to put on the record my longstanding admiration for the work done by all the people who work on our national parks and my continued support for them in their role.

Mr DULUK (Waite) (17:18): I, too, rise to support the member for King in her motion before the house and also to warmly reflect on the words of the deputy leader and, of course, the hard work of the Minister for Environment and Water, who is a passionate advocate for our parks and rangers. I also want to reflect on World Ranger Day and outline to the house how rangers have played an important role in my electorate of Waite.

I would like to echo the words of the member for King and, in particular, highlight the important role that rangers play in conserving a wide diversity of South Australia's native plants, animals and heritage within our parks and reserves. I am indeed very fortunate that there are a number of excellent parks and reserves within my electorate: the iconic Belair National Park, which is having a birthday in a week or two; Brownhill Creek Recreation Park; Blackwood Forest Recreation Park and Sturt Gorge Recreation Park, just to name a few.

Belair National Park is South Australia's oldest national park, second in Australia and eighth in the world. Belair is home to Old Government House, a significant heritage building. Also in the park is the State Flora centre, the oldest plant nursery in South Australia. The park remains one of the few relatively undisturbed areas of native vegetation in the Adelaide Hills region, making it an important refuge for native plants and animals.

The park is cared for by park rangers and the passionate Friends of Belair National Park, who work hard to conserve the park's flora and fauna. They have their meetings usually on the first Saturday of every month and they are always very well-attended meetings, and I enjoy going to them. I note that last week they had Professor Chris Daniels present to their group, who is strongly passionate about the work of the friends and conservation as well.

As part of a recent project to improve accessibility within the park, rangers have been involved in producing the new park map, which shows which trails are most easily traversed by wheelchairs, prams and people using walking sticks or frames. The map also indicates the location of accessible toilets and car parking to promote access for all to enjoy the park.

Over the past 12 months, over 120 events have been held within Belair National Park, including weddings, engagement parties, birthdays, trail running events, funerals, corporate Christmas parties, charity events, and community and private functions. This does not count the numerous casual picnics and sometimes large functions that occur throughout the park, especially around the adventure playground area.

It is estimated that approximately 500,000 people visit Belair National Park each year, making this park a much-loved jewel in the crown of our state's national park system. I will also put on the record my appreciation to Helen Hembest, who is a local artist in my area who is painting a picture for my electorate office of the Playford Lake, which of course is iconic in the park.

I would also like to highlight the beautiful Brownhill Creek Recreation Park and the work of the rangers and volunteers as well. Covering 51 hectares, I am told that Brownhill Creek was once a favourite camping, hunting and gathering ground for the Kaurna people. The recreation park features a steep-sided valley, populated with river red gums, some more than 300 years old, together with blue gum woodland. Rangers have been working with the Brownhill Creek Association, Friends of Brownhill Creek and many other community interest groups for many years to manage and improve this important and environmentally significant space.

I might also add that Brownhill Creek has historic significance, in terms of the parliament, as it was a favourite of Tom Price, who was of course Labor's first premier in South Australia and whose home was not far from what is now Brownhill Creek.

Going back to the rangers and the good work they do, rangers are working with the Brownhill Creek Association on the Wirraparinga Loop Trail, one of the park's scenic walks, which is so important. The work they do is supported through the Marshall Liberal government's June budget announcement of a $100,000 grant to assist in the work of updating the trail. This comes on the back of a $200,000 Green Army grant from the federal government. I commend the federal member for Boothby, Nicolle Flint, for her work in this grant funding.

The grant will assist the Brownhill Creek Association in their removal of significant weed infestations, making it easier for volunteer groups to undertake ongoing bushcare maintenance, together with revegetation and habitat restoration along sections of the trail. The development of the Wirraparinga Loop Trail was initiated by the Brownhill Creek Association, with the support of the Department for Environment and Water, the City of Mitcham and the Carrick Hill Trust.

In August this year, rangers assisted nearly 200 students, who gathered at Brownhill Creek Recreation Park to plant several thousand native plants to create more habitat in the park. This was the third year that such plantings have been undertaken. About 190 students attended, along with school staff, members of the Brownhill Creek Association and Friends of Brownhill Creek, as well as rangers and other staff from Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges.

The partnership was formed in 2016 to explore ways to engage local schools to help improve biodiversity in the Brownhill Creek Recreation Park. The schools involved include Mitcham Primary, Scotch College, Mercedes College, Unley High and Urrbrae Agricultural High School. The schools each adopt a section of Brownhill Creek that they work on to improve biodiversity. The project links schools with the community, providing outdoor learning opportunities and improving biodiversity.

Rangers are a trusted source of information for visitors to our parks, ensuring a safe and rewarding visitor experience while also playing a valuable role in managing our parks and caring for wildlife. Rangers also build positive partnerships with community and not-for-profit groups, which leads to more volunteer hours and financial support for our parks.

They work closely with friends of parks groups and other community and government groups to support bushcare activities, including activities such as corporate group and school group working bees. They undertake a diverse range of jobs in caring for our parks and are responsible for the overall maintenance of park facilities, ongoing trail maintenance, assisting visitors, working with researchers, fire management, pest control, responding to emergencies, educational activities for schools and interacting with the public.

We know that park visitation brings enormous benefits to the economy through attracting interstate and overseas tourists, which of course contributes towards a key commitment of the Marshall Liberal government—that is, driving economic development in our state. Importantly, rangers are at the front line of ensuring that these parks are managed well to protect the natural environment, as well as providing an enriching experience for visitors.

The new government approached the last election with a back-to-basics practical set of policies that would refocus and reset our state's environmental priorities. Our government is focused on hands-on services, rather than mere idealistic gestures. I commend the new Minister for Environment and Water, the member for Black, for his efforts in changing the culture of the department and the way the department interacts with the public.

Under the previous regime, we saw a minister who was not prepared to get his hands dirty, and not prepared to invest in community, but who was more than happy to make glib statements from the ivory tower he presided over. The new minister in this Marshall Liberal government, minister Speirs, is out there and recently visited Brownhill Creek in my electorate. We also visited Wittunga Botanic Garden. As the local member for his area, I know that he is passionate about his community and those right across the state. We are truly grateful for his enthusiasm in ensuring practical conservation in our natural parks and wildlife.

The new government's environmental policies are on show and having tangible real benefits already, and we have a commitment to practical environmentalism. We want to restore, protect and enhance our natural and built environment. We also want to look at ways to open up our environment for greater access that allows South Australians as well as interstate and overseas tourists the ability to experience and enjoy it. Done sensitively, this will drive further economic benefits, which, as I said, is a key commitment of the new Marshall Liberal government.

The new government is focused on delivering improved environmental outcomes, not empty symbolism and token gestures but real, lasting results that the people of South Australia can see and experience.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (17:28): I have to rise to say a few words, given my deep appreciation of our national parks and conservation parks throughout the state and the deep appreciation of rangers and others who make such an important contribution on a day-to-day basis.

In some respects, I am proud of the record of the previous Labor government and the manner in which it expanded national parks and conservation parks in our state, with something like 1.8 million hectares devoted to national parks and conservation parks in South Australia. Of course, in relation to the marine environment, we also introduced no-take areas, which still add up to only some 6 or 7 per cent of our marine waters, and we did so in the face of quite strong opposition from those opposite.

Conservation parks and national parks are incredibly important, especially given some of the changes we are experiencing at a global level, a national level and a state level. My family and my children, who grew up in South Australia, were able to visit a number of parks on a regular basis, so we got to appreciate some of their incredible attributes.

The member for Flinders, who is not with us at the moment, has some stunning national parks in his electorate. I do have a predilection towards the marine environment. Coffin Bay National Park and the Lincoln National Park are both exemplary national parks in our state, and I encourage people to visit them, especially if they have an interest in recreational fishing as well. They are great camping spots. They are also preserved habitats for a whole range of species.

We hear from those opposite about practical conservation. I heard a bit of denigration of some members on this side. A long time before I was a politician, I was a member of a friends of the park in Whyalla—the Wild Dog Hill park. I got to acquire a number of skills being a friend of that particular park. I learned such things as how to use phosgene to kill rabbits, especially after the calicivirus was introduced, to see if we could knock that noxious pest on the head. That probably will not please animal liberationists. Of course, there were other feral animals in the park as well, in addition to feral plants.

A lot of work had gone into trying to do the right thing by that park. That park was almost decommissioned. It was fairly close to an industrial city and there was a high level of vandalism. It almost was decommissioned. Clint and Marg Garrett rounded up a number of people and got a really strong friends of the park group going in Whyalla. We used to take part on rosters for night patrol when there were still bins in the parks, which there are not anymore. When there were still bins in the parks, we would go in and empty them and then do the all the work that needed to be done about the assets of the park to ensure some control over both the flora and fauna pests that represented a threat to the park.

Practical conservation is not enough, though. It is not enough because of what is going on on a global scale. We have some major threats that are working their way through our natural systems at the moment. I note that World Ranger Day is actually about those rangers who are killed or injured in the line of duty. We are very fortunate in this state not to have any within those ranks, as far as I know. Certainly there will be some injuries, but I do not know of any ranger who has been killed in the line of duty. In other parts of the world, that is commonplace, especially in Africa and a few other places where poachers seek out animals that are already close to extinction to kill and to sell tusks and other parts onto markets internationally. It is a disgrace.

But we are in the early throes of what is referred to as the sixth great global extinction. The rate of loss of species, the loss of biomass of wild species, is absolutely staggering. It is why practical conservation is not enough. Coming on top of that is the real threat, the fundamental threat that global warming presents us with. Some people, especially in countries where the Murdoch press predominates, still think there is some argument about the evidence when it comes to global warming—the overwhelming balance of the scientific evidence in the case that global warming is real.

The Paris accord looked to keeping warming under 1.5° Centigrade. We are not going to reach that; we are not going to reach the 2°. According to current trends, it is going to go well beyond that, and that means a fundamentally different planet. Practical conservation at a local level is important, and I am not denigrating it, but it is going to take strong and robust international agreements and strong and robust enforcement actions that are commensurate with the real challenges that we face. Recognising the fundamental challenges that we face as a planet requires serious politics at an international level, a national level, a state level and a local level.

In countries like Australia, I still do not believe, especially at a national level and given the government we have at the national level, that we are fully up to the challenge. At a national level, I think we are probably willing to sacrifice the Great Barrier Reef in order to churn out a few more dollars in profit. The future that we are handing on to our children, to their children and to the life that we share this planet with is going to be a dire one if we do not act seriously in the next decade or two. I do not want to see the national parks, the conservation parks and the species that inhabit those parks lost in this state.

A lot of people do not fundamentally grasp average temperature increases. Maybe if we were to talk in terms of shifts in climatic zones—which is what is going to happen: incredibly significant shifts in climatic zones—it might be an easier way for people to understand what is going on. In that context, it is important that we do not have national parks and conservation parks that are just isolated islands. We need corridors and capacity for species to move over time as conditions change—and conditions will change.

There are people who are telling me that there are trees that have survived for many, many years that are starting to die in parts of the Flinders Ranges. This is the first time they have seen this happen, with some of the changes that are occurring. Some of our great national parks are in the Flinders Ranges, both the southern and the northern Flinders Ranges. By all means, let us support our practical conservation, but, at the end of the day, it is going to be ideology. It is going to be ideology tied to giving us the direction that we need to go in. That comes back to values, and those values then incorporate technology and a whole range of social changes that we will need to implement if we are going to hand on a world that is worth living in for our children and for future generations.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (17:38): It gives me great pleasure to speak this afternoon on the motion that has been moved by the member for King to recognise the role and contribution that our park rangers here in South Australia make not only to our natural environment but also to the social and economic wellbeing of the state. It was great to hear the detailed contribution of the member for King around her passion and commitment to rangers and the areas of protected space within the electorate that she proudly represents.

I had a great opportunity to head up to the Para Wirra Conservation Park in the outer north-east of our city with the member for King to meet the friends group who look after that site and to meet the rangers who have a role to play in caring for that protected landscape. It was great to have been welcomed and hosted by the member for King.

She also mentioned another area that she has a particular passion for, that being the Cobbler Creek Recreation Park. It is often great to see her social media contributions when she is out there with her family, particularly her son—giving him an opportunity to catch up with the friends and meet the rangers who are involved in managing that site—getting their hands dirty and getting a real understanding and love for a natural environment through touching it and hands-on experiences.

That is the great thing about the role of a park ranger. It is a job that I think would be incredibly fun and fulfilling, to get out there into our incredible and unique natural environment in South Australia and to be able to contribute day to day to protecting that environment in a tangible, practical way. That is what our park rangers do. They are part of the public workforce that looks at protecting and upholding our natural environment, ensuring that people who interact with it do so in a way which meets particular compliance issues and also providing support for friends groups who obviously extend the capacity of government so much by contributing volunteer hours to the care of our national parks, recreation parks, conservation parks and wilderness areas in South Australia.

The role of park rangers is important when it comes to environmental protection. They underpin the whole public-facing element of the Department for Environment and Water. They build partnerships. I mentioned friends groups. They build partnerships with friends groups, but equally they build partnerships with other parts of the Public Service. They build partnerships with NGOs and on occasion private organisations as well, all with that aim of preserving, revitalising and building up the environmental capacity of our landscape in South Australia.

Over 20 per cent of South Australia's land mass is under the care of protected areas, under the care and control of my department, the Department for Environment and Water. The people working on the ground through my department are park rangers. They are assisted by other people along the way, by ecologists, compliance officers, people who work in the tourism icons we have, whether that be Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island, whether it be the Flinders Ranges protected areas. There is a whole workforce that comes together on the ground at the coalface; 'at the grassroots' is probably a better metaphor to use than 'at the coalface', I would say. We have this workforce who day in day out protect our natural environment and form partnerships which will extend their capacity to continue to look after our natural environment.

Park rangers have an incredibly important role also to play when it comes to tourism in South Australia. Park rangers have an iconic role; they play a trusted role in our community. So when tourists go into our natural environment, being able to identify a park ranger, interact with them, be taken on a guided tour perhaps with them, be pointed in the right direction, be given advice about what other areas of interest to visit in the proximity of where they are visiting, that role in our visitor economy is so important. The iconic role that the persona of a park ranger takes in our tourism sector in South Australia should not be underestimated either.

That is why the Marshall Liberal government is building on the work of the previous government around nature-based tourism, looking for ways that we can take people into our natural environment—much of that is regionally based—so that we have the opportunity to get more people visiting regional South Australia, falling in love with regional South Australia and coming back to visit again. Of course, that is great for our tourism economy and great for our natural environment as well because it is putting a very tangible value on our natural environment, in an economic sense but also in the sense of social wellbeing, getting people out into parks and open spaces to enjoy our natural environment.

The new government is absolutely committed to building up the front-line workforce. We know that under the previous government there were very significant cuts to that front-line workforce, particularly around park rangers. We had a very substantial reduction in the number of park rangers working in the environment in our state. We are committed to changing that, turning it around. We made an announcement in the lead-up to the 2018 election that we would increase the number of park rangers by some 20 per cent. I see that as just the beginning of the rebuilding and the nurturing of that grassroots environmental workforce in this state.

Our increase of around 20 per cent will be complemented by a volunteer workforce that we want to concentrate on. We will be looking at, what is a volunteer ranger, how do they interact a more traditional ranger role and how they expand the capacity of the on-ground workforce in our state. This will perhaps give work experience opportunities to people who might aspire to be a ranger, and also give people an opportunity to give back to our natural environment perhaps at the end of their career or when they are taking a career break. The volunteer ranger program that we are working is in its embryonic stages, but we are looking forward to working with friends groups, community groups and people who are interested in environmental protection to work out what that volunteer ranger role looks like.

With our expansion of the number of park rangers, we want to look at changing some aspects of that workforce. We want a specific class of rangers focused on coastal protection, building partnerships with friends groups that have a particular focus on our coastline. As I have said many, many times, South Australia is blessed with 5,067 kilometres of stunning coastline. There is so much opportunity to get people to enjoy that coastline. Much of South Australia's protected land is found in coastal areas, so we want to create the opportunity to have a specialist class of coastal rangers.

We also want to expand the number of Indigenous people working as rangers—traditional owners involved in country being paid to increase awareness of the cultural value of getting onto country and helping people to understand that particular landscape and its cultural significance. It is also about giving traditional owners the skills and employment opportunities to work in environmental protection, the tackling of pest plants and animals—which are in many ways offensive to traditional owners—and providing them with employment pathways that not only focus on cultural aspects of their traditions but also on environmental aspects as well.

We are committed to creating a new southern hub for rangers, to be based in Glenthorne national park, the government's vision for creating a new national park in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. This will protect Glenthorne Farm and stretch from Happy Valley Reservoir to the beach at Hallett Cove and Merino. Because so much of the Glenthorne site is protected, and because we see a real opportunity to engage so many new people with environmental activities in the southern suburbs by using Glenthorne as a catalyst, we want to make sure that a rangers' hub is located in the southern suburbs, with rangers looking after the southern parks full-time. At the moment, rangers tend to travel from the north of the city to the south; we want to get over that.

It is an absolute pleasure to be South Australia's environment minister. I get to go out and enjoy so many aspects of our natural environment. This portfolio has so much to give to South Australia, and we can only do so because of our front-line workforce. Rangers are at that grassroots level and play an absolutely critical role in environmental protection in South Australia. I am grateful for the work they do. I am also grateful for the opportunity to officially put on the record that we value their role and we want to invest in them. I look forward to working with the South Australian ranger workforce.

Ms LUETHEN (King) (17:48): Firstly, I just want to close by saying how lucky we are as a new government, and how lucky we all are as South Australians, to have a full-time, passionate Minister for Environment who cares so much about our parks. He has already been spending a significant amount of time with me in the electorate of King looking after our parks. I also want to thank the member for Waite, the member for Port Adelaide and the member for Giles for contributing to the conversation about our parks and rangers.

On World Ranger Day, I am grateful for the opportunity to recognise the significant role that our rangers and friends of parks play in protecting and preserving our environment. As well as our commitment to increasing the number of rangers by over 20 per cent across the next four years, the Marshall Liberal government will develop a volunteer ranger program, much like the SA Ambulance Service volunteer program, to provide additional support to rangers. Our aim is to have around 100 volunteer rangers out in field within the first four years of government.

We will also provide specific career pathways for Indigenous rangers in order to recognise the unique relationship that many Indigenous South Australians have with our land, sea and country. It is important for us to recognise this connection and provide a policy framework to better achieve these desired outcomes. It is not just inland national parks such as those in King that will benefit from the back-to-basics approach taken by this government: of the 20 new park rangers, five will be employed specifically as coastal rangers trained to work on the state's unique coastal environments.

These coastal rangers will assist in the protection and management of some of the state's most beautiful natural landscapes. An additional $5.2 million over four years has been committed for coastal management. This includes increased funding for metropolitan beach replenishment, seagrass meadow restoration, the establishment of three artificial reefs and a wetlands plan for Gulf St Vincent. A higher focus on our environmental surroundings and engaging the community in coastal preservation programs has been a key pillar of this policy, and the Marshall Liberal government is delivering.

If these measures are not put in place, we risk the longevity of all our national parks, and we just cannot stand by and see happen. The government believes that more park rangers will play a pivotal role in ensuring the security and longevity of our park system, and that is exactly why we are acting and delivering. It is good for our wellbeing to spend time in nature and a simple way for us to recharge our energy. In the north and north-east, my local community have been speaking up very loudly recently, fighting hard to keep and protect our green open space because they recognise how important it is to a healthy community. I commend my local community members for their ongoing advocacy.

I am really pleased with the opportunity today to let everyone know that national parks across the state will receive an on-ground boost through the addition of 20 extra park rangers. Park rangers are certainly at the forefront of conservation in South Australia. I commend the Minister for Environment for delivering on our promises and for taking such a keen interest in the electorate of King. I wholeheartedly thank our park rangers and local friends groups for all the important work they do to protect and conserve our natural parks and instil this responsibility in our next generations.

Motion carried.