Parliamentary Committees

Environment, Resources and Development Committee: Inquiry into the Coast Protection Board and Coastal Legislation

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (20:41): I move:

That the report of the committee on its inquiry into the Coast Protection Board and coastal legislation be noted.

The Hon. Tung Ngo and I have collaborated, and he is going to make a reasonably extensive contribution, so I will not cut him off at the pass, but I will say that it was a very tripartisan inquiry that was done on the particular topic. It was a pleasure to work with the member for MacKillop, the Chair, the Hon. Tung Ngo, the Hon. Robert Simms, the member for Playford and the member for Schubert. We were ably supported by the excellent staff, Dr Merry Brown and Ms Joanne Fleer.

We travelled extensively through South Australia, and I would like to thank all those people who shared with us their extensive local knowledge. I think they have all made wonderful contributions to the report. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the efforts and the hard work of the Hon. Mark Parnell, who was a driving force with regard to this report.

I think when people take the opportunity to have a look at it, it really does shed some light on some of the issues and challenges that we have ahead of us. Some of them are very substantial and will take quite a bit of solving. With that, I commend the report. With the agreement of the Hon. Robert Simms, after the Hon. Tung Ngo has made his contribution we will pass the motion.

The Hon. T.T. NGO (20:43): I rise to support the noting of the sixth report of the Environment, Resources and Development Committee on the inquiry into the Coast Protection Board and associated legislation. As the Hon. Terry Stephens said, I pulled the short straw and I will be giving a longer speech on behalf of all honourable members in this house.

The Environment, Resources and Development Committee (ERD committee) commenced this inquiry in early 2021 on the motion of the Hon. Mark Parnell MLC, a former member of this council. The inquiry's aim was to investigate and report on the Coast Protection Act 1972, which will mark its 50^th anniversary next year, and determine whether SA's coastal legislation and the Coast Protection Board are still fit for purpose some 50 years later.

The committee received 54 written submissions and heard evidence from 30 different witnesses. This report makes 11 recommendations, the most important of which is the recommendation that state government develop a statute amendment bill for the Coast Protection Act during the next parliament. The other recommendations to state government aim to contemporise the Coast Protection Act by positioning the Coast Protection Board as a leader in regional and metropolitan coastal areas protection and integrated coastal management.

The committee held most of its hearings in Adelaide and was pleased to hold one regional hearing in Mount Gambier and privileged to visit many beautiful coastal areas in South Australia, including in the South-East, Adelaide Plains, Yorke Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula and Adelaide metropolitan regions.

The committee heard a great deal of evidence from regional and metropolitan stakeholders that statewide leadership in integrated coastal management was vital for the future of South Australia's coastal areas. SA's coastal areas are highly contested, with a number of agencies having jurisdiction over coastal geographic boundaries and responsibility for management distributed over state and local levels of government.

This fragmented approach to governing our coastal areas has led to a complex mosaic of plans, strategies and programs across government agencies and councils that incompletely cover coastal areas. Furthermore, there are gaps in leadership of strategic and statewide policy setting to control coastal development, manage coastal conservation priorities and mitigate impacts from climate change and sea level rise.

The committee met with and heard from many council representatives as it travelled throughout regional South Australia. Their passion for protecting coastal areas in their regions was very evident, but the committee noted with some dismay that councils were apportioning disproportionately large amounts of their base budgets to protecting coastal infrastructure and public access to beaches. This is clearly unsustainable for councils.

One of the committee's recommendations is for the state government to commit to finding an equitable and sustainable long-term funding model for research and data collection and for the protection and management of coastal assets across the state. The committee also heard from regional councils of the urgent need for local data collection to help inform better decision-making. This is particularly the case for councils seeing an upswing in tourism due to the increase in backyard tourism as a direct effect of COVID-19 related travel restrictions.

Submitters were strongly supportive of amendments to the Coast Protection Act and keen to retain an authority, such as the Coast Protection Board, that could collaborate and lead on statewide and strategic coastal issues.

On behalf of all members of the committee—that is, the Presiding Member, Mr Nick McBride, member for MacKillop; Mr Michael Brown, member for Playford; Mr Fraser Ellis, member for Narungga, Mr Stephan Knoll, member for Schubert; the Hon. Terry Stephens MLC; the Hon. Robert Simms MLC; and former member the Hon. Mark Parnell MLC—I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who took the time to help the committee while it toured SA.

In particular, I thank the mayors, chief executives and staff of the 18 regional councils the committee met with; representatives from the South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board; the presiding member of the Coast Protection Board, Mr Jeff Tate; and Dr Murray Townsend, from the Department for Environment and Water, who accompanied the committee on their regional visits.

I would also like to thank the academics from Flinders University who accompanied the committee on its tour of Adelaide metropolitan beaches. I am also grateful for the community groups who spoke to the committee at Parnka Point, Lucky Bay and Black Point, and thank all individuals, community groups and organisations that provided a submission or gave evidence to this inquiry.

I have learnt so much from this inquiry, I now have an even greater appreciation of our beaches and coastal areas. I had no idea how much of an impact and damage climate change and man-made infrastructure such as boat ramps and groynes, which are meant to protect the beaches, actually will cause to our beaches in the future. Now I can easily explain to my friends and constituents the unintended damage that occurs when humans try to interfere with nature.

Finally, on behalf of the committee, I would like to thank parliamentary officer, Ms Joanne Fleer, and research officer, Dr Merry Brown, for their assistance with organising the committee's site visits and compiling the evidence received into this report.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (20:51): I would like to thank the Hon. Tung Ngo for his contribution. We have already thanked all those who were involved, so I put the motion.

Motion carried.