Parliamentary Committees

Natural Resources Committee: Belair National Park Fact-Finding Visit

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (11:02): On behalf of the member for Waite, who is unfortunately unable to be here, I move:

That the third report of the committee, entitled Belair National Park Fact-Finding Visit, 2 March 2023, be noted.

I take delight in moving this on behalf of the member for Waite, not only because I am a former member of the Natural Resources Committee—and I think most members of this place who have been former members of the Natural Resources Committee do hold a lot of fondness for the work it does and certainly reflect well on their time on that committee—but also because Belair National Park is a prized asset of South Australia and the protected areas across our state.

The Natural Resources Committee does a lot of these fact-finding visits to particular areas across South Australia—most a fair bit more far-flung across the state than visiting Belair National Park—and it is a useful opportunity for members of parliament to get out and about to see exactly what is going on in relation to the management of our natural resources. In the time I was on the committee we had some excellent visits, including a great visit to Kangaroo Island to see what was underway there.

We even went as far as undertaking an inquiry in relation to issues of unconventional gas developments, and went to Queensland to see what was being undertaken there before making recommendations to the parliament about the management of such developments here in South Australia. I thank the committee for their work—and this visit is probably the closest to the CBD visit they have done—as doing a number of these visits gives them an opportunity to meet the people who are concerned about these areas and to bring back that information to the parliament.

Belair National Park is a protected space that is steeped in history in our state. Having grown up in the inner southern suburbs, there were many times when we, as a family, would go to Belair National Park, and I am sure many families across South Australia share that history. I think it is a great opportunity for us not only to continue to preserve the area and very significant area in relation to the Mitcham foothills but also to keep that growing is a great opportunity to showcase the nature-based tourism in our state as well.

To have areas like that so close to the city, whether it is Belair National Park, whether it is Cleland or other protected areas close to the city, is not only great for native habitats, not only great for preservation of various natural fauna and flora species, but also for tourism and making sure that South Australians can be active.

Certainly, with my job now as Minister for Health and Wellbeing, it is a great benefit for us to have those areas so close to the city where people can recreate, enjoy our outdoor areas and be healthy in the process. In fact, I do know that one certain Chief Public Health Officer of this state is known to go for a run very early in the morning through Belair National Park, and many South Australians will use that as an area to keep fit and healthy and use those protected areas of our state.

What tends to happen with these Natural Resources Committee reports is that undertaking a series of these fact-finding visits will later feed into a greater body of work that can provide some recommendations to the house and to the environment minister, in this case, or to other relevant ministers; quite often, it is also the minister for agriculture and fisheries. I am hopeful that, by undertaking a number of these fact-finding visits, the members of the Natural Resources Committee will use them to develop some more reports that bring together a number of strands of the work that they have done across the state.

I think one of the other benefits of this committee is that it tends to work on a bipartisan basis. During my time on the committee, we had the Hon. Robert Brokenshire, the Hon. John Dawkins and Peter Treloar, and we all got along very well, I have to say. It was ably chaired by Steph Key at the time. It was an excellent committee and probably not one that, when I had entered parliament, I saw as a particular area of focus where I wanted to devote my time, but having secured that spot on the Natural Resources Committee it was probably—no offence to the member for Elizabeth, who was Chair of another committee I was on at the time—one of the more satisfying and interesting committees that I served on. I would certainly recommend to other members of parliament to have some time on the Natural Resources Committee.

In fact, I remember another great advocate of the Natural Resources Committee was the Hon. John Rau SC, who was Chair of the Natural Resources Committee for a number of years before he entered the ministry. I think they were regarded as his frustrated days before he entered the ministry in some regards. They undertook a very sweeping review of the situation for the Murray-Darling Basin.

They travelled across the Murray-Darling Basin, essentially from the Great Dividing Range at the start where the Murray originates, right the way through the basin and conducted a series of three reports to which, if my recollection serves me right, they gave names akin to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with some names that only John Rau could have come up with. Some fantastic analysis was done as part of those reports and some excellent recommendations were made that I think served the parliament well.

I think a whole lot of parliamentary committees should be looking enviously at the work that the Natural Resources Committee does, considering the bipartisan way that it works across the state. I am sure that this latest report, while obviously not the most extensive report that it has produced, will go some way in terms of making sure that we can add it to the fabric of future recommendations that can be made looking at both protected areas and management of private land across South Australia and how we can make sure that our vital natural resources in this state can be preserved for many generations to come.

I thank the committee for its work. I look forward to future reports, future fact-finding visits and its further contribution to the parliament.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.