Adelaide Parklands

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Did the minister tell an audience at a Liberal fundraising event last night that he considered the Parklands as elitist and that the people of Sheidow Park and Hallett Cove don't care about the Parklands?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:26): I'm afraid the deputy leader's source is taking me somewhat out of context because what I said last night was—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and, again, I have actually said on the record a number of times and I think it has been reported in the past, that we have to be very careful to ensure that the Parklands don't become seen as an elitist area of our city and that they can appeal to everyone; that there are opportunities for everyone to interact with the Parklands, to access the Parklands; and that they are not held up as some sort of untouchable place which ordinary people in South Australia cannot relate to.

Last night, I discussed the great importance of protecting the Parklands. In fact, on Friday, in an interview on David Bevan's show on ABC Radio Adelaide I talked about this very thing, the importance of protecting the Parklands and my belief as environment minister that there had to be a compromise reached on rezoning, which is currently in the public domain. I talked about that. That might actually be at odds with some of my cabinet colleagues in the past, but I put it out there very clearly that we needed to invest in the Parklands. I talked about the wetlands program that we are developing along the edges of the River Torrens, which is in the Parklands. I talked about rewilding the Parklands around butterfly meadows.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: In fact, I met just a couple of weeks ago with Doug McEvoy, a leading Adelaide medical officer, who has a real interest in creating a meadow or an urban forest in the Victoria Park area. Last night, at the function that the deputy leader refers to, I stood looking out at the Parklands and talked about how the area between Greenhill Road and South Terrace could actually be rewilded. I think we talked about 2,000 more trees going in there and a proposal around that.

Then I talked about the work that had been done around the Victoria Park wetlands and with the Keswick Brownhill Creek project up there, which has actually been criticised by some Parklands activists as illegally dumping stormwater in the Parklands when actually what that will do is create not only a place to go and create opportunities to connect with the Parklands but will create habitat as well.

My message was very clear. We talk too much and we finger wave when we talk about the Parklands instead of trying to create opportunities to help people engage with the Parklands. The deputy leader's source is well out of context with this because my view of the Parklands—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —has been consistently that we must find ways to connect people with the Parklands—spiritually, psychologically, culturally—and we can't let the Parklands drift into a place of elitism where people are shut out of them. I think the Parklands have opportunities for biodiversity, which I don't think are there at the moment. I talked about that last night. I talked about how the biodiversity in the Parklands was actually very poor compared to what it could be. That was a specific comment that I made.

I talked about opportunities for sport in the Parklands, entertainment in the Parklands and cultural institutions in the Parklands. I have been very proud of the cultural burn that Green Adelaide, an organisation under my department, worked to pull together with the Green Adelaide board— multiple uses for the Parklands. Rather than shutting people out, creating pathways for people from all walks of life and all across our city so that they are not just for the elite few, but they are for many, many people.