Minecraft Competition

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:25): I have a question for the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister tell the chamber about the recent success of the Minecraft competition that was run as part of the connecting residents of the north and south with nature projects?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:25): I thank the honourable member for his most intriguing and important question. At the last state election the government of South Australia committed to investing $10.4 million to encourage Adelaideans and other visitors to visit our metropolitan parks.

The project: connecting residents of the north and south with nature, used co-design principles to ask local communities how they wanted this money spent. Over 11,000 people participated in the project and were involved in southern and northern co-design teams, ministerial round tables, free park open days and submissions to the YourSAy website. I seem to recall a number of MPs or members of their offices attending.

This feedback has allowed the government to recognise the importance of rangers for the community, as well as improvements and upgrades to facilities like camping and picnic grounds, walking and cycling trails, information hubs, nature play spaces and scenic lookouts. This has led to the investment in nearly 40 infrastructure and education projects, including the creation of five new rangers, plus eight seasonal staff, to carry out trail maintenance, as well as works to northern parks and southern parks.

One of the innovative ways we engaged with the public about this investment was through a Minecraft design a park competition. Students worked together to think about their favourite things about parks and what they like to do in them, and then created their ideal park by using the world-building computer game, Minecraft, of which I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever until it was brought to my attention by some younger staffers.

The competition attracted national and international media for its innovative blending of technology with learning, and provided students with an excellent opportunity to learn more about park design and their natural environment. Linden Park Primary School's year 4 class won the competition with its fantastic leafy sea dragon national park. They actually did a YouTube video of that fabulous entry, and it is quite intriguing; I encourage honourable members to look it up. It is bound to be on the school site, but you can do a little search engine search—whatever they are called—and look for—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Google it up.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, that would be a proprietary name, the Hon. Mr Brokenshire—I'm sure there are others. We don't want to support one.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: It's the only one I use.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: That's an endorsement from you. I think I probably use Firefox myself, but there you go. As I said, they have done a YouTube video of this leafy sea dragon park, it is all in 3D and it is incredibly interesting and fun to watch.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Sounds good.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: It is good. Their design included all the important things that park visitors need, plus some exciting new ideas—some of them are very exciting. Essentials were included, like accessible toilets, picnic and barbeque areas, walking and cycling trails, a campground and even a cafe. I really enjoyed the inclusion of fun and imaginative things like the maze, the pirate ship in the playground and, of course, the giant leafy sea dragon that people could climb. Because the students' design was so interesting and innovative, the government invited them to spend time with a qualified design team to help create the new play area at Morialta Conservation Park.

The students' contributions can be found in the final park design, which includes a five-metre climbing structure in the form of an eagle's nest, as well as balancing logs and platforms of varying heights. When the park upgrades are finished there will be a lovely little plaque recognising the work of the Linden Park Primary School students in creating and designing the playground, and they should receive the benefits of that success of theirs.

I am especially pleased to report that the students' design work has gone on to even more awards. The students entered their original project in the national iAwards. The iAwards are run by the Australian Information Industry Association, and recognise organisations and students at the cutting edge of technology and innovation.

I am very happy to say that the students won the South Australian junior students category, beating many excellent entries from an incredibly talented field. The students then went to Melbourne to represent the state in the national awards. The Linden Park Primary School, I am advised, won the national junior students category, and that is a fantastic outcome from one of our great South Australian primary schools. Given the very tender age of the students, their success on the national stage has been all the more impressive.

Linden Park Primary School will now be entitled to represent Australia at the Australasian awards in Taipei, in December 2016. The prestigious awards aim to raise awareness about information technology and the community and bridge the digital divide—something that these students are clearly doing a fantastic job of. I wish the Linden Park Primary School year 4 class the best of luck for the Australasian awards this December. They have a bright future ahead of them, highlighting the importance of engaging with the broader community about the natural environment and how it can excite so many people, particularly those of the younger generation.