Adelaide Beach Management Review

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (14:36): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding the Adelaide beach management review.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: The opposition understands that the Department for Environment and Water is suggesting that Charles Sturt council pay for a rock wall to be installed in front of Joe's Kiosk, a site of significant erosion. My questions to the Attorney are:

1. Is the Attorney aware of the request from Charles Sturt council to pay for a rock wall?

2. Will the Attorney acknowledge that the need for a rock wall is a result of the lack of sand on the beach at Henley South?

3. Will the state government compensate the council for the true costs of delayed action to adopt a sustainable solution to address coastal erosion?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for her question. In relation to the causes of erosion, I am not an engineer and I would not like to speculate on what may or may not cause erosion on anything let alone a part of a beach. I am only in the broadest sense aware of the issues that the member has raised. I have seen them written about in the media, but I am not aware of the details of those. The day-to-day management of beaches and of things of this nature are with the environment department, as I said in response to an earlier question today.

I can inform the chamber a little more about the Adelaide beach management review that the member asked about. As has previously been canvassed in this place, the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water declared a conflict of interest in the beach management review. The Premier determined that I would take the lead as responsible minister into that particular review. The review, as I have said before, will include advice from consultants with expertise in coastal management and community engagement. The experts will provide advice to an independent advisory panel, which will then provide a report to the Attorney-General, myself.

It had been envisaged that this would be an approximately 12-month process. I was pleased recently to appoint members to the panel, namely, Mr Mark Searle as the chair, Kaurna representatives Mr Les Wanganeen and Ms Sarah Smith, and professors Beverley Clarke, Nicholas Harvey and Michael Young as experts in their respective scientific fields. It was particularly pleasing, particularly as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, to have strong Kaurna representation on the panel with Mr Wanganeen and Ms Smith, given the importance of the Adelaide coastline to Kaurna culture. I look forward in due course to receiving the advice from the advisory panel as informed by experts on this matter.