Public Open Spaces

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:59): It pays to be patient, thank you, Speaker.

The SPEAKER: It certainly does.

Mr MURRAY: My question is directed to the Minister for Environment and Water and I ask whether he can update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government has increased visitation to public open spaces across the state?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:59): I thank the member for Davenport for his question and note that he represents, and will represent after the election, some of our most significant open space investments in the state, including Glenthorne National Park, Happy Valley Reservoir and Sturt Gorge Recreation Park—great areas of our metropolitan open space network and areas that the Marshall Liberal government is committed to invest in and to create areas for people to have recreation experiences within, learn about nature and immerse themselves in nature because we know that's not only good for physical wellbeing but it's also incredibly good for mental health and wellbeing as well, which, in the period of the coronavirus pandemic in Australia, has been incredibly good.

In fact, unlike some jurisdictions, in South Australia we encourage people to visit outdoor open spaces during the pandemic to get away from the four walls and the screens with all the bad news, to get out into nature, to practise social distancing sensibly and all those things around public health that we were encouraging. We did say that getting into the great outdoors would be a way of building resilience in the face of those challenges and many, many South Australians did.

In fact, in recent times, over the last couple of years we have seen a very substantial surge in visitation to South Australia's national parks. That really had a very significant surge during the peak COVID period—March, April and May 2020—but has sustained as well. In fact, our visitation to national parks is up some 64 per cent. That's almost 200,000 extra visitations, year-on-year results in recent times. That can bring some challenges, but it's a great opportunity for our state to sell these destinations to our citizens and, when the borders open and there is more freedom to move between states and internationally of course, welcome people into our national parks and outdoor spaces to experience some of the best of what South Australia is all about.

That increased visitation and those new opportunities occur at a time when the planets have aligned for our national parks: not only has our ranger workforce substantially increased up from 93 in 2018 to 138 today, an increase of some 45 per cent, but we have also had an historic generational investment in our national parks, whether that is Glenthorne National Park down in the southern suburbs or whether it's opening up our network of reservoirs.

Our reservoirs opened all across the state, turning the communities where you find these reservoirs into must-visit, nature-based destinations. It is transforming communities, communities like Williamstown and Kersbrook in the north-east of our city, or just out of our north-eastern suburbs, or Myponga on the western Fleurieu Peninsula.

There are projects like the Wild South Coast Way, the creation of a multiday walk within the Heysen Trail, extending from Cape Jervis to Victor Harbor, creating a multiday walk and spending over $6 million in enhancing that experience. The member for Finniss and I went down to open the Goondooloo lookout in Deep Creek Conservation Park, part of the Wild South Coast Way and a real destination within that national park and part of this investment.

We are continually looking for ways to invest in the amenity, in the accessibility and in the educational value of our national parks, while balancing the need to have them as places of conservation and places for biodiversity. I think that's a balance we have got right and that generational investment will transform our national parks and our open spaces in this state.