Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister tell the chamber about the latest developments about the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary, and the recent highly successful Adelaide Flyway Festival celebrating the arrival of the migratory birds?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:00): I thank the honourable member for his most important and sensible question. On Sunday October 17, I and many hundreds of other South Australians gathered on the St Kilda foreshore for the inaugural Adelaide Flyway Festival. The festival, which will hopefully become an annual event, celebrates the impending arrival of the migratory birds to the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary.

The sanctuary, in the St Kilda region, is part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway route. Each year, around 27,000 resident and migratory birds travel enormous distances to reach the coast of Gulf St Vincent where they rest and feed up over the summer. I understand that this area is known as a terminal site, meaning that the birds do not travel any further and spend the longest time right here.

The Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary provides a safe haven for the birds, where the mudflats, mangroves and salt marshes support the birds during their refuelling. The festival is a fantastic way of celebrating their arrival and raising awareness about the importance of protecting this very valuable conservation area.

The festival is also intended as a celebration of the wonderful local community surrounding the bird sanctuary. I understand around 2,500 people attended the Adelaide Flyway Festival over the course of the day, which is an exceptional turnout for our first festival and demonstrates the attraction of this wonderful area, its colourful and diverse community, and its exceptional food producers.

It is precisely for this reason that local businesses and community groups were closely involved in the preparation and running of the festival, and it was fantastic to see that all the stallholders on the day, including food vendors, were local to the area. I must confess to the chamber that I went away from the festival laden with gifts of tomatoes and cucumbers from some of the local producers and, of course, their stalls were rushed by many of the people there to get a taste of local tomatoes and local produce.

The Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary is an exceptional opportunity to combine conservation, tourism and the economic benefits for the local community and, of course, the entire state. It was why I was delighted to announce during the festival that the state government is nominating the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary to be recognised as an official East Asian-Australasian Flyway Network site. The East Asian-Australasian Flyway is one of the world's greatest flyways, I am advised. At its northernmost point, it stretches from Russia in Alaska and encompasses Australia and New Zealand at its most southern point, passing through 22 countries along the way.

If successful, this nomination will mean that the bird sanctuary becomes a recognised network site and will be instrumental in strengthening the value of the area, not only for the local community but, most importantly, of course, for international visitation. The nomination also signals this government's commitment to our role in the conservation of migratory waterbirds and shorebirds.

In addition, and in recognition of this important site, I am pleased to report to the chamber that the state government intends to proclaim the bird sanctuary as a national park. The Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary presents a wonderful opportunity for the local community and the state in achieving important conservation and environmental outcomes to come together and celebrate that.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everybody involved in the Adelaide Flyway Festival, in particular the local community and business groups, as well as the ongoing support in making the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary such a success. I wish them all success into the future.