National Parks

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister inform the chamber about the results of the recent Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources parks visitation survey?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:52): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Since 2012, South Australians have been surveyed by the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources about visiting the state's national parks and reserves. This survey is an important part of gathering the data necessary to ensure that the resources we spend in our reserves and parks system are put to good use.

The 2016 survey has been released, and we have some fantastic results. Seven out of 10 South Australians, or 69 per cent to be more precise, visited one of our national parks in the last year. This far exceeds the first target of the People and Parks visitor strategy that aimed for 50 per cent by 2020. This year, the three most visited parks were Cleland, Belair and Morialta. These three parks received a large increase in visitation of between 8 per cent and 16 per cent.

I am advised that part of this increase can be attributed to the quality of free community events that have been put on in these parks. These include events put on by Nature Play, along with park open days and mountain biking activities. A total of 46 per cent of people who visited parks in 2016 visited one to three times, 42 per cent visited four to 11 times, and 12 per cent visited parks more than 12 times. Perhaps the most positive result was that 97 per cent of South Australians indicated that they value our parks highly. This is a great reflection on the whole park system in this state, and underpins the South Australian government's $10.4 million investment to upgrade our metropolitan national parks. This was a commitment we made at the last state election.

The Connecting Residents of the North and South with Nature project drew on a comprehensive co-design process to engage the broader community about what they wanted to see in their parks. I am advised that 11,000 people were involved in an engagement process and that they said they wanted improvements and upgrades to facilities like camping and picnic grounds, walking and cycling trails, information hubs, Nature Play spaces and scenic lookouts.

One of the seven metropolitan parks allocated funding was the Cobbler Creek Recreation Park. On Saturday 8 October, I was very pleased to attend the first BioBlitz in Cobbler Creek Recreation Park to launch the new park upgrades. The BioBlitz was a great opportunity for the community. It saw families engage with the special nature of Cobbler Creek and the restoration work that has been ongoing there for a number of years.

The work that park rangers, DEWNR staff and Cobbler Creek volunteers do all year round to maintain such a great park is incredibly important to us. Without that buy-in and the cooperation across our parks staff and community volunteers, the park would not be anything like what it is today. The new raptor-themed 'kites and kestrels' playground and picnic area has been a huge hit, I am advised. The new facilities, along with trails and cycling tracks, are what the local community made clear they wanted for their parks.

They said they wanted better family-friendly amenities like picnic areas, drinking water and well-signed trails. These upgrades will transform the park and encourage even more local community members and groups to visit. In the end, that is what it is all about—getting more people out into nature, enjoying the nature in our parks around our city. By working with local communities and investing in our parks, we end up with a healthier population and a happier and more active community.