National Park Rangers

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr ELLIS: Can the minister inform the house how the Marshall Liberal government's focus on park rangers will deliver better on-ground environmental protection and whether there are any alternative views that he is aware of?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:35): I thank the member for Narungga for his question and know he has a great interest in national parks and wildlife, particularly in having a strong ranger service here in South Australia and particularly looking after Innes National Park in his beautiful electorate.

Many people here would know that we went to the election with a commitment to increase the number of park rangers by 20 and to rebuild that front-line workforce, which of course had been gutted, absolutely gutted, by the previous Labor administration over 16 years. In fact, rangers themselves had become a threatened species looking after threatened species as a consequence—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —of the maladministration of the Labor Party. But, never fear, we are now in control of the treasury bench and we are determined to rebuild our ranger workforce—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and to do that we have begun recruiting—

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —new rangers. We said we would recruit 20 and we are already well on the way to having the first five in place.

The Hon. T.J. Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Primary Industries is called to order.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: They will start undertaking that iconic role in our natural environment, supporting local communities, supporting friends groups, to build resilience in our landscape—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee, be quiet.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and look after our natural environment, working with volunteers, working with NGOs, to invest in the environment. It was with interest—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left, be quiet.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that I heard that the Labor Party doesn't appear to be overly supportive of our move to increase the number of park rangers. If I were the South Australian Labor Party, I would run far, far away from any conversation about rangers, given what they did during their term. But, no, there appears to be some background briefing of journalists around our commitment to rangers. There appears to be a comment that we are just rebadging existing workers—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader and deputy leader, be quiet.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. There appears to be rumour and innuendo that we are just rebadging existing officers as rangers, but I can tell you that we have created a pathway for existing officers to become rangers, absolutely. That will be over and above our 20 additional rangers. We have already, as part of workforce transition and workforce renewal, been able to identify a number of officers who are in other roles, who have said, 'We would like to be rangers.' We see this as part of the government workforce that the Marshall Liberal government is investing in and so we have created this pathway.

Dr Close interjecting:

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I hear the deputy leader, who apparently hates rangers and doesn't want us to do this.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, please do not respond to interjections, and the deputy leader is warned. Please stop interjecting.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I hear her saying that this is an unfunded commitment. But is it unfunded? I look to page 64 of the 2018-19 budget papers and they are fully funded. Our 20 new rangers are fully funded. They are happening. Not only have we fully funded rangers but we are looking for pathways for existing workers in the department—

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —to transition to rangers. You know what? When I asked the chief executive about this, about whether it was something that was regularly done, transitioning people within the department to rangers, he said, 'That's been happening for years and the Labor Party did it 13 times over.' They transitioned and rebadged 13 people and now the deputy leader is criticising us for 20 new rangers and a whole host of new pathways for careers to rangers. This will result in new rangers in Glenthorne National Park, on Kangaroo Island and in the River Murray National Park. Interestingly, we might even get one at Bimbowrie Conservation Park—which, for the opposition leader's information, is right next to the town Cockburn.

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is on two warnings. If she continues to interject, she will be leaving the chamber.