NATIVE VEGETATION (APPLICATION OF ACT) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. M. PARNELL (16:37): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Native Vegetation Act 1991. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. M. PARNELL (16:39): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This is a very simple bill that gives effect to something which has already been debated and agreed by this council but which is yet to be formally legislated. The bill clarifies the current ambiguous definition in the Native Vegetation Act of the area to which the act applies. In particular, this bill confirms that the act applies in the bush suburbs of the Mitcham Hills.

The Native Vegetation (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2008 was received in this chamber on 27 November 2008. In closing the second reading debate on that bill on 4 March 2009, the minister said, 'Members have indicated that there is general support for the provisions of this bill.' The bill then went into committee on 14 May. I note in debate on clause 1 of the bill that the Hon. Stephen Wade, speaking for the opposition, said:

In relation to the bill as a whole, I reiterate that the opposition supports the bill. Indeed, the main thrust of the bill was proposed by a former Liberal government.

We then proceeded to debate the bill in committee, but we got only to clause 7 of the bill, progress was reported and then further debate on the bill was abandoned. In fact, to this day, I am still not sure why we did not complete debate on a bill with which most members had said they agreed. We got to clause 7, and the amendments that I now bring before the chamber were in an earlier clause that we passed over with no debate and no dissent.

My bill reintroduces, directly from the government's bill, those provisions which clarify that threshold question of: where does this act apply and where does it not apply? Generally, members would appreciate that the Native Vegetation Act applies outside the metropolitan area, but the act is worded in such a way that it applies to some parts of the metropolitan area but not others. Specifically, the act currently applies to areas that are to the east of the hills face zone.

When these provisions were drafted, I imagine that it was assumed that the hills face zone was a continuous and contiguous strip where it was very easy to determine which parcels of land were to the east of it and which were not. However, the hills face zone is not a continuous strip: it exists as islands and disconnected parcels of land spread along the length of the Mount Lofty Ranges.

When debating this provision last year I used the example of the Mitcham Hills where some areas are covered by the act but others are not, and that is just not good enough. The importance of ensuring that the Native Vegetation Act applies to the Mitcham Hills is because it is one of the last remaining areas where we find the woodland associations connected with Eucalyptus microcarpa.

As members may know, Eucalyptus microcarpa (or grey box) is a woodland association that occurs on heavy soils, such as clays, and in South Australia it occurs in only three small disjunct populations, that is, the Bordertown/Naracoorte region, the Melrose/Quorn region and in the eastern and southern suburbs of Adelaide.

Some 15 years ago botanists were describing this vegetation association as being 'poorly conserved'. The association, as I have said, is found relatively close to the city, on the foot slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges, and it stretches between Stonyfell and Willunga. This woodland association was known as the 'black forest'. It once occurred on the Adelaide Plains, but it has since been almost completely cleared.

Heyward Park at Unley Park, which is less than four kilometres from the city centre, contains the last remaining patch of this association on the Adelaide Plains, and that is why it is so important that we protect what little is left of the grey box woodlands.

Importantly, the federal government has stepped up to the plate and, on 1 April this year, the grey box (or Eucalyptus microcarpa) woodlands were declared as an endangered ecological community under the commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The full title of the listing is Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) Grassy Woodlands and Derived Native Grasslands of South-Eastern Australia.

This has been recognised at the federal level, yet in South Australian state law it is still unclear that our primary native vegetation protection laws apply to this area. I also want to point out at this stage that, in the community, a number of people are working hard to make sure that we recognise, appreciate and, in fact, re-establish this eucalyptus microcarpa woodland. I want to draw particular attention to the group who go by the name of the Grey Box Community Group, based in the Blackwood/Eden Hills/Belair area, who have been active over the last several years to draw attention to the plight of the last remaining Eucalyptus microcarpa woodland and have sponsored days such as the Grey Box Community Day which was held up at Blackwood last year for the first time and this year on World Environment Day. I want to acknowledge the work of artist Greg Johns and also horticulturalist Karen Lane who propagated most of the 7,000 plants that were distributed to the community on that day.

In relation to this bill, my bill makes it quite clear that the bush suburbs of the Mitcham Hills are covered by the Native Vegetation Act and the bill lists those suburbs including Belair, Bellevue Heights, Blackwood, Coromandel Valley, Craigburn Farm, Eden Hills, Glenalta and Hawthorndene. As members would know the Native Vegetation Act does not apply to planted vegetation, so this has no impact on plants, whether native or otherwise, that people have put into their back or front yard. It only applies to naturally occurring native vegetation and ensures that that vegetation cannot be cleared without approval.

Ignorance is no excuse when it comes to breaking the law and, if it is unclear where the law applies, then it puts citizens at a distinct disadvantage and at a serious risk of unknowingly breaking the law. I believe that most people want to do the right thing but to do so there must be no doubt what laws apply and what laws do not apply. With those words, I commend the bill to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.