Natural Resources Committee: Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island Regional Fact Finding Visit

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (16:26): I move:

That the 123^rd report of the committee on the Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island Regional Fact Finding Visit, 7 and 8 June 2017, be noted.

This is the 123^rd report of the Natural Resources Committee. Over two days in June of this year, the Natural Resources Committee visited a range of sites in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM region, the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin NRM region and the Kangaroo Island NRM region. The visits described in this report are part of the committee's regular schedule of visits to the state's NRM regions. The committee tries to cover all of the NRM board regions and the various sections of those boards, particularly the ones that cover the outback, during each four-year parliamentary term. Indeed, the committee is still hoping to go to the far north-east of the state in the South Australian Arid Lands NRM region later this year.

On this visit, the Presiding Member, the Hon. Steph Key, was accompanied by myself, the Hon. Robert Brokenshire, the Hon. John Gazzola, Mr Jon Gee MP and the member for Flinders in the other place Peter Treloar MP. We were also pleased to be joined by the member for Finniss in the other place Mr Michael Pengilly on the Kangaroo Island section of the tour.

Over the two days of the trip, the committee visited a range of sites, including the swamp and nature play area at Mount Compass Area School and Harvest the Fleurieu, a relatively new local business at Mount Compass dedicated to showcasing and supporting local produce and producers. Other sites included a DEWNR-funded low flow bypass device being trialled on a private property at Mount Jagged and Smith Bay on Kangaroo Island, the site of the proposed KIPT timber export wharf facility.

Also, members visited the adjacent Yumbah Aquaculture abalone farm at Smith Bay, which I had visited some years ago. Members were very impressed by the work that Yumbah Aquaculture had done to establish its multimillion dollar business, employing a significant number of local people in that venture. Members of the committee look forward to keeping updated on the Development Assessment Commission process underway for the proposed KIPT wharf, because I think all of us noted the value of the aquaculture business, which is right next to that proposed site.

It needs to be said that everyone, I think, we spoke to on the island was in agreement that a way to clear and export the former managed investment scheme timber plantations on the island needs to be found. As the committee has heard previously, these plantations have been left largely unmanaged on the island and provide a refuge for feral animals and overabundant native species, as well as having a number of other undesirable effects.

It is clear, though, following the committee's visit and speaking with many local people, that the KIPT's preferred location for the timber export wharf at Smith Bay is not by any means universally supported. During the trip, members also visited farms at Wirrina in the AMLR NRM region and Bella Vista on Kangaroo Island, both of which are practising and demonstrating a range of yield enhancing sustainable agricultural techniques supported by their respective NRM boards and DEWNR.

Throughout the trip, committee members had the opportunity to speak with many DEWNR staff, as well as members and staff from local government and a number of interested community members. At Harvest the Fleurieu in Mount Compass, the committee met with local irrigators, together with DEWNR and Natural Resources SAMDB staff.

Members heard a range of perspectives on water resources management, including arguments both for and against low flow bypass devices from local irrigators and DEWNR officers. Members of the committee look forward to teasing out some more detailed evidence on some of the issues that were raised with us at Mount Compass in what was a fairly informal setting when the committee returns to the Fleurieu to take formal evidence with Hansard on 21 and 22 September this year. The committee thanks the Alexandrina Council mayor, Keith Parkes, for the invitation to return and the generous offer of providing the council chambers as a venue for that hearing.

The committee also intends to use its September Goolwa visit, following an earlier visit later this month, to delve into community perspectives on water resources management in the Murray-Darling Basin. Among those accompanying the committee on the various legs of this visit and providing comprehensive background information were the Natural Resources Kangaroo Island regional director, Damian Miley; the KI NRM board presiding member, Richard Trethewey; Natural Resources AMLR regional director, Brenton Grear; as I said earlier, Alexandrina mayor, Keith Parkes; the Kangaroo Island mayor, Peter Clements; and board members and staff from the various regions.

Fact-finding visits such as this have many benefits, not only allowing the committee to see the work done on the ground by regional staff and giving those staff and NRM board members the opportunity to communicate directly with the committee, but also giving us the opportunity to see the work that volunteers do in relation to the efforts of the boards around the state. This work is often done under challenging conditions.

In conclusion, I commend the members of the committee for their contributions to the work of the committee. I would also like to thank the staff for the work they have done towards this report. I would like to say a particular thanks to Ms Barbara Coddington, who has been the research officer for the committee for the last couple of years and has done a terrific amount of work, particularly on the inquiry into fracking, but on a range of other issues, and has been a very valuable staff member. She is not lost to the parliament; she has now gone to work as a research officer in the library here. I am delighted that we have been able to keep her in the parliamentary system. With those remarks, I commend the report to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.E. Hanson.