ADELAIDE BOTANIC GARDENS

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:06): Thank you, Mr President. I suspect it may well be my last question. My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Will the minister inform the chamber about the recent opening of the new First Creek Wetlands located at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:07): I thank the honourable member for her very important question; it is seldom that I have better questions than those I have from the Hon. Ms Carmelina Zollo. I look forward to at least one more this session, but I may be disappointed.

The honourable member is, indeed, correct. On Friday 22 November I had the great pleasure of opening the newly completed First Creek Wetlands at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, along with parliamentary secretary Simon Birmingham. These wetlands are the culmination of 10 years of planning by the Botanic Gardens, its board and staff, to use water more wisely at the Botanic Gardens but also to provide a new garden experience for visitors.

The journey began in 2003 when the Botanic Gardens undertook an in-depth study into water usage amongst its facilities. During those 10 years, of course, we saw our state endure severe drought and adapt to water restrictions, and we watched our most precious resource, the River Murray, become pushed to the brink of environmental catastrophe. Of course, that was largely due to the Liberal Party, which would never stand up for South Australia. It would not get behind our campaign to Save the River Murray, and it was up to Premier Jay Weatherill to lead that fight again, and win it.

He was not afraid to take up that fight against the federal Labor government, he was not afraid to take up that fight against a New South Wales state Liberal government or a Victorian state Liberal government. He decided he was going to stand up for the state's interests against whomever he needed to fight, not like the group over there, who are too timid to raise their voice in support of South Australia's vital interests.

However, back to the Hon. Carmelina Zollo's most important question about the Botanic Gardens. The Botanic Gardens knew it could use water more efficiently and more sustainably, and also more ingeniously, because it had very good science to access.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Go on, tell us how much the Liberal Party hates scientists!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, I don't need to: the Hon. Michelle Lensink just said it for us.

The PRESIDENT: You've just told us.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Michelle Lensink just reinforced for the rest of us how much the Liberal Party hates scientists. I can't understand why. Scientists are lovely people who deal with facts, truths and evidence and make our world a better place.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I'm tempted to call order, but we're all having such fun, minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The wetland installation captures water from First Creek and its catchments, filters it at the wetlands and then, in turn, stores it for irrigation at the gardens. The project itself will see the Botanic Gardens within five to eight years, it is hoped, be entirely independent from mains water for irrigation, which is going to be an outstanding achievement.

First Creek is dry in summer and wet in winter, and the wetland will be no different, mirroring the natural water flows of these sorts of ecosystems. When First Creek is flowing a small amount of water, a maximum of about 25 litres per second, will be diverted into the wetland through a narrow, small pipe. Most of the First Creek water will continue to flow down First Creek into the River Torrens. Water that does not enter the First Creek Wetland will be filtered by a gross pollutant trap before it flows on into the River Torrens.

Once water enters the wetland, it is filtered by a continuous deflexion system unit that removes litter before the water enters the settling pond. The settling pond then cleans the water by slowing it down, allowing clay and sand and other particulate matter to settle. The cleaner water then flows into the filtering pond, where the plants and microscopic life remove pollution like heavy metals, bacteria, viruses and nutrients from water, letting the native plants do their work. I am advised this is known amongst wetland experts as a macrophyte zone. The water is from there mechanically filtered by a sand filter and pumped 100 metres below ground for storage. Lastly, when required, the stored water is pumped up into the storage pond and used to water the garden.

The First Creek Wetland has also been developed as an important educational facility to help the community to understand the role of wetlands, especially in an urban environment. Containing more than 60,000 plants, the wetland is a significant collection for the Botanic Gardens and includes a number of native rare and endangered species collected by the Botanic Gardens staff from the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre; seeds that were then propagated and grown by our nursery at the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens and planted at the wetlands.

The wetland itself features pathways and viewing platforms, as well as an educational sign area to explain the aquifer system and the importance of wetlands to the 1.6 million annual visitors to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, including an expected 50,000 school students. It is a great new addition to the gardens, and I urge members to check it out when they have an opportunity.

At the launch, I had the great pleasure of talking to some of the Botanic Gardens staff, and I was impressed by their great enthusiasm and professionalism in bringing this project to fruition. Special mention must go to Mr Andy Hart, the Botanic Gardens curator, who has worked on this project from start to finish. I also had the pleasure of joining with some students from Gilles Street Primary School to plants some seedlings at the wetlands—some of the first students to learn from this new facility.

I have spoken in this place before about the state government's efforts to make South Australia a water-sensitive state. I have spoken at length about our plans to see Adelaide capture some 60 gigalitres of water across Greater Adelaide by the year 2050, and I am advised that this project is a piece of that puzzle enabling us to capture, at the end of the year, 23 million litres of water that would otherwise have run out through the Torrens system.

It is a great example of an organisation thinking about how they can do things better, how they can do things more sustainably, and everybody at the Botanic Gardens who has been involved in this project deserves our congratulations. I heartily commend their efforts to the chamber.