ReBird the Ranges

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (14:22): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Can the Deputy Premier provide an update to the house on the ReBird the Ranges Action Plan?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Workforce and Population Strategy) (14:22): I am delighted to bring this to the attention of the house. This is not one of those party political partisan issues; this is one that we all share an interest in—including my very good friend, the Minister for Mining—which is the future of birdlife in South Australia. I recall discussing this with the previous minister for the environment and was very pleased that we were able to put $1 million towards rebirding the Mount Lofty Ranges into the election commitments as part of a suite of environmental election commitments that we made and what we now have is this program called ReBird the Ranges.

But let me just give you some context. Australia is, of all countries, the country that has the second highest number of bird species in the world. Not only is that a good thing in itself but it actually has resulted in an enormous amount of bird tourism. I am not sure if people heard on the ABC yesterday, $2.6 billion a year of international travel comes to this country in order to come and see the birdlife that exists here.

We also, of course, have our own biodiversity hotspots and the Mount Lofty Ranges are one of them. Although it's only 1 per cent of the landmass of South Australia, the Mount Lofty Ranges has about half the bird species that exist in South Australia, living through the Mount Lofty Ranges. But already about 60 per cent are in decline—officially in decline as species—and we have lost 10 per cent. They are regionally extinct, although they may well exist elsewhere.

Why do we care about birds? Although many people appreciate them in their own right—and it is, of course, a foundation of growing tourism—birds are pollinators, birds disperse seeds, birds are also involved in pest control but also birds are an indicator species. If you have healthy birdlife, you've probably got a pretty good and productive environment. If the birdlife starts to decline, it means that there are other problems within the environment.

I was delighted to launch the ReBird the Ranges Action Plan last week. Twenty partners are involved in this, organisations that are already deeply engaged in largely revegetation works. As I say, there is $1.8 million that has been put towards this as a start from the environment department through that election commitment and also from the Landscape Board.

Some examples of the revegetation that is already occurring is Frahns Farm which is 550 acres—Bio R. If people know the Patons, David and Penny Paton are behind that and they do magnificent work restoring the vegetation there. There is Kanmantoo which is 300 acres run by Second Nature Conservancy. This is an area that's under private heritage agreements which is showing that landholders want to see nature be stronger for its own sake and also because it makes a difference to the quality of primary production and living that we can enjoy.

Trees For Life are involved. They have the Mount Lofty Paddock Tree Project, trying to restore those paddock trees that play such an important role in sustaining birdlife. We also have Nature Foundation involved and the Nature Conservation Society.

I listed some reasons why we should care about birdlife, not least that they are an indicator species of the health of the environment. When we did this launch, David Paton gave his personal view about why he cares so much about birdlife and why we so desperately need to act. He talked about the silencing of the dawn chorus. Most of us when we were young will remember a lively dawn chorus as we woke up in the morning. That is demonstrably silencing. We are losing species and we are losing that beautiful music of the morning and that's why I think, despite some hilarity on either side, this is something that sits across our chamber and is of interest to all of us.