Environmental Conservation

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:34): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister update the house on key environmental initiatives that will assist in restoration and conservation projects in regional communities, including on Yorke Peninsula?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:35): I thank the member for Narungga for his question. One of the great joys of being the Minister for Environment and Water in South Australia is being able to get out into regional South Australia and see some of those great environmental assets that we have in the regions and also understand what makes regional communities tick and see if we as a government can support them in their conservation activities and in their economic outputs as well.

It has been great to visit many regional communities across South Australia since becoming the minister and, in particular, heading over to the Yorke Peninsula and the Copper Coast part of our state last week and spending a couple of days with the member for Narungga, getting to understand his community and some of the challenges and also opportunities that we face from an environmental point of view.

This government is very keen to see nature-based tourism work hand in hand with economic developers, conservation outcomes and increased biodiversity in our regions. Particularly when you go to the Yorke Peninsula-Copper Coast region, you see a whole range of models or examples of activity that feed right into these areas where primary production and economic development, whether that be our visitor economy or service industries, are coming together to take advantage of the great natural environment that we find particularly in regional South Australia and also conservation outcomes.

There is no greater example, in my view, than the Great Southern Ark project, which is a project that has been around for a couple of years but is starting to build momentum. It is a partnership between the Department for Environment and Water, the federal government's National Landcare Program and then a range of NGOs, including Zoos SA, the World Wildlife Foundation, Birdlife Australia, the Fauna Research Alliance, Conservation Volunteers Australia and Yorke Peninsula Tourism.

This project really is very interesting. A 26-kilometre fence will be constructed across the foot of Yorke Peninsula with the aim to remove some very significant feral pests, both in terms of plant life and animals, from the landscape. That landscape includes the stunning Innes National Park, and it includes over 100,000 hectares of primary production land as well.

This project is a research project, but an active research project, looking at opportunities to remove pests from the landscape, increase the resilience through bettering the biodiversity of that landscape and also improving the primary production values of the landscape as well by introducing native species, which would have historically been found in the area, that will benefit the primary production outcomes. These are the sorts of great projects that, when we get back to basics with natural resources management and work closely with communities, we can actually deliver.

Another such project, and one which I would like to see come to life in the future, is in the member for Flinders' electorate: the Wild Eyre project. I am very hopeful of being able to expand that landscape-scale restoration project because when we get these projects right they not only contribute to the primary production value of the landscape and the biodiversity of the landscape but they also become destinations for visitors and improve our visitor economy as well.

Regional South Australia means so much to this government. We are keen to invest in it, we are keen to support it, and to support regional communities because we know how much they contribute to the diversity, vibrancy and economic development in our state.