National Parks and Wildlife Service

Mrs POWER (Elder) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government has improved on-ground conservation outcomes across South Australia since forming government in 2018?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (15:07): I thank the member for Elder for her question. One of the things that we have sought to do since coming to government some 3½ years ago is to reposition the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department for Environment and Water more broadly on practical on-ground outcomes, practical on-ground outcomes that would deliver greening in our urban communities, strengthen the resilience of our national parks and ensure that we are better positioned to respond to a change in climate, to the threat of extinctions from biodiversity decline and such threats that are present in the 21^st century in South Australia.

That's what we went about doing: rebuilding the frontline workforce of the National Parks and Wildlife Service and actually reinstating the National Parks and Wildlife Service that had largely been subsumed into the department and had lost the focus and clarity of its brand. We went about rebuilding our ranger workforce, the workforce at the frontline who work with our friends groups and who deal with practical work in our national parks—some 21 per cent of our state is held within the national parks estate—connect with visitors, help people interact with the environment safely and provide educational service as well.

I am pleased to say that, since coming to office, the number of park rangers of that frontline practical workforce has increased from 93 in early 2018 to 138 today—an increase of some 45 per cent—providing that frontline workforce that is actually making a real difference. That has had an impact right across our parks network. In every part of the state that I travel to I hear from friends groups that they feel there is more productivity at a National Parks and Wildlife Service level. They can see and feel the difference that that's making, and that can only be a good thing for that 21 per cent of the state that is held within our national parks estate.

We have also established a volunteer ranger workforce to work alongside the traditional rangers, to work alongside our friends groups, to be present at events and to make a real difference when it comes to the capacity of providing those services in our national parks. We would be lost without our friends groups across South Australia. Very many of our national parks, conservation parks and regional reserves and the like are served by active, passionate friends groups. We have sought to support those friends groups by establishing grant schemes to provide them with support.

The grants program has been increased from $60,000 a year to $90,000 a year, and then to $750,000—an increase many times over on what was available for friends groups in the past. I am most excited about the partnership grants requiring friends groups and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to work with NGOs and local councils, landscape boards and other potential partnership bodies. Multiyear grants allow them to put in place a work plan that can really make a lasting difference to the resilience of our parks, coupled with our grassroots grants through our landscape boards.

All our landscape boards and Green Adelaide are required by legislation to provide grants. We are really providing for the first time in recent decades a significant amount of resource to our friends groups and our National Parks and Wildlife Service to provide that climate resilience, to provide the biodiversity recovery to deal with the feral plants and animals that are a threat to our national parks. All these programs are working together to value and to provide resources to our friends groups in the National Parks and Wildlife Service.