Field River Conservation Park

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (14:31): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Can the Deputy Premier inform the house about South Australia's newest conservation park?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Minister for Workforce and Population Strategy) (14:32): I am delighted to bring the house up to date with the establishment, the proclamation, of the Field River Conservation Park—long overdue but finally here. While it is in an adjoining electorate to that of the member for Davenport, I would like to say how grateful I am for her efforts not only with advocating for the Field River area but also, of course, for her outstanding representation for Glenthorne National Park and all the good things that are happening there.

I would like to give a little bit of background about the Field River Conservation Park. For those who have not been able to go down there, it is a river that comes down from the Mount Lofty Ranges—as, of course, do all the rivers in Adelaide. It goes through the suburbs of Reynella, Sheidow Park, Trott Park, Happy Valley and Woodcroft, and then it goes out to sea at Hallett Cove. The great thing about this river area is that it has a lot of pretty intact vegetation, as well as some that needs some management, but it is an area that has been able to preserve a number of important species.

For that reason the community has been asking, for years, for this to be turned into a park, and I am so pleased that we have finally been able to do that in this term of government. I am not sure what held up the last term of government, given the advocacy of the local member who was also the Minister for the Environment, but here we are now. We have been able to make the decision at last to do this.

The species we are looking at in this area, which will have that conservation park status around it, are the threatened yellow-tailed black cockatoos, fish like common galaxias, dwarf flathead, gudgeon and also congoli. Importantly, there are remnants of grey box grassy woodland which, as anyone who has been paying attention to the environment through the Mount Lofty Ranges will know, is an extraordinarily important piece of vegetation—and we do not have anywhere near enough of it to keep the environment healthy.

The area has great conservation values. It also has a community that has been wanting to see this level of protection for some time. What is really excellent is that there has been able to be so much money, in cash and in kind, put to establishing this conservation park. It is about $13 million, with significant amounts from the federal government; I would like to acknowledge Amanda Rishworth's efforts in advocating for this area.

There is a $4 million grant that was allocated under the Albanese government's Disaster Ready Fund, being that which we do to try to head off disasters, obviously, rather than the recovery fund. That money will go to the Kaurna Firesticks team. The Kaurna Firesticks team are all about going into the conservation areas, in this case Field River, to assist with the kind of fuel reduction burning that is consistent with cultural practices, sometimes known as a cold burn or a cool burn, which is able to reduce the load without doing environmental harm and also, of course, brings great cultural significance to the Kaurna people.

I am very pleased to know that there will also be an Aboriginal works team working in the area on weed control and carbon sequestration opportunities and also with the delivery of a prescribed burn program. I was in the south a year ago, I think, around the Aldinga Washpool area and had the opportunity to hear Kaurna elders thanking the community for continuing to care for their local environment, even when they as Kaurna had been alienated from that area. It is wonderful to be able to welcome them back as part of this important initiative in the south of Adelaide.