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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-12 Daily Xml
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SIMPSON DESERT

Ms BREUER (Giles) (14:23): Will the Minister for Environment and Conservation explain the reasons for the closure of the Simpson Desert Conservation Park?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (14:24): The South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage has announced that the Simpson Desert will be closed during the hottest months of the year to ensure the safety of visitors, in particular overseas visitors, and emergency personnel,. The closure will apply from 1 December to 15 March and will affect the Simpson Desert Conservation Park and Regional Reserve in South Australia. The closure was proposed after a risk assessment identified that extreme temperatures constitute a very high safety risk. There has been consultation with local businesses, tour operators and other people in the area.

I can rule out one of the suggested reasons for the closure of the reserve, which is gaining some online currency. It has been suggested in some online forums that the true reason for closure of the park is that the presence of aliens has been detected in the park. I wish to assure the house that, in fact, no aliens have been detected in the park. I will qualify that. This is parliament, and it is important that I do not mislead the house. They have not been detected, at least by officers of the Department for Environment and Heritage.

When we made the decision to close the park, we did not even suspect that there were aliens in the park. That was no part of our decision-making process. Of course, I cannot entirely rule out the existence of aliens in the park. It is not my present intention to dispatch further investigators to establish beyond doubt that there are no aliens in the park. And I do not wish that to be taken as a cover-up on the part of this government, because that would be an unfair—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right; that would be a very unfair thing.

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