Giant Pine Scale

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta) (15:30): Today, I would like to talk about Labor's giant pine fail for the communities in Highbury, Hope Valley and the north-eastern suburbs. Giant pine scale is an invasive insect pest. It sucks the sap from pine trees. It is from Asia, Eurasia and Europe but it is now infecting the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide. Some years ago, 4,000 trees in Victoria were infected by giant pine scale. The pest was considered endemic in Victoria and, as a result, the Victorian forestry industry has been decimated as they have been unable to control the giant pine scale in that state.

In South Australia we have an eradication policy, and we hope that our forestry industry, which is worth billions to this state and employs thousands of people, will be able to continue without giant pine scale infecting it. The pest sucking the sap as it does defoliates trees, the branches die, the trees become desiccated and ultimately the trees die. But the problem is that while that process takes place, through insects or birds or indeed by machinery, the pine scale can transfer to other trees in the local area.

When these pests are found—as they were in 2023 in Highbury and Hope Valley around the Hope Valley Reservoir, Silverlake Reserve, the Elliston Reserve and the Highbury Aqueduct Reserve—the process undertaken, supported by the expertise of PIRSA, is to remove the trees. The destruction of the tree is the only way that the pine scale can be killed and the trees are chipped up and left on site ultimately until the pest is dead. Further, the surrounding trees are removed as well, given the capacity for insects to move the pest around to surrounding trees. In 2023, there were about 900 trees removed and destroyed in my area and the immediate surrounding areas.

I have spoken about this in the house before. At all stages I have tried to be collaborative and supportive of the government in being able to deal with this significant pest in a bipartisan fashion. However, my patience is absolutely at an end because of the failure of the government to adequately deal with this over the last two years, firstly, in terms of the timeliness of dealing with the pest as it has arisen and spread, and secondly, in terms of the response from the government to our local councils and particularly to our local community who would like these areas revegetated.

That was in 2023. It has been more than two years, for example, that the Elliston Reserve in Highbury, across the road from the Hope Valley Reservoir, has been a barren wasteland. The council has done its best to put in some jumps to make a BMX track, but in the winter it is a sludgy mess and in the summer it is a barren and hot field of dust. It is not a pleasant area and it is a carbuncle on the nose of Lower North East Road for anyone driving down there. It sticks out like a sore thumb. The government says it is the responsibility of the Tea Tree Gully council if they wish to revegetate it. A paltry $150,000 for Elliston Reserve is not enough.

Meanwhile at Hope Valley, we understand that there are another 700-odd trees to be removed in the coming year on top of the 1,400 that have now been taken. Clearly, those have not been taken in a timely enough fashion. The laxity of the government response in removing these trees has put further trees at risk. It has put at risk our forests further afield as the pine scale can be picked up by birds and transferred across.

The assurances that the government would remove these trees as every case is found, which I have received over the last two years, I no longer have faith in. The assurances from government that replanting would happen to support our local communities' amenity, I no longer have any faith in. I was incredibly pleased to see the Leader of the Opposition, Vincent Tarzia, and the candidates for Morialta, Scott Kennedy, and Newland, Sarai Birch, announce on the weekend that a Liberal government would put in place a $5 million giant pine scale recovery fund, enabling the replanting of these areas at no cost to ratepayers and, importantly, the speedy, timely and safe removal of further trees when they become infected. I commend to my local residents the commitment made by Scott Kennedy and Sarai Birch and I look forward to seeing it implemented after next year's election.