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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-29 Daily Xml
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CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERS

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (14:06): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Conservation. Can the minister inform the house how the government is providing support to volunteers who give their time to protect our environment?

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) (14:06): Something like 20,000 volunteer days occur annually amongst our parks and heritage places through our volunteer network called the Friends of Parks. It is an incredibly valuable network, providing more staff hours than, in fact, the paid staff of DEH. That is an extraordinary effort and, increasingly, we rely upon them in protecting our state's environment.

The government recognises the work of these volunteers in a number of ways, in particular, through the allocation of a new grants program of $65,000 in 38 grants to assist many of them in their work. It is important that they be supported for their work in the environment and encouraged to keep participating and ensuring that we build on our state's environmental sustainability. These grants go a small way towards supporting these volunteers for the dedicated work they do.

We know that in our parks these 38 grants, which range from $300 to $5,000, will be used to support a range of projects, including pest control, heritage works and vegetation surveys, within South Australia's national parks. For example, Tenison Woods College in Mount Gambier will receive a grant of $600 to extend its outdoor classroom in which students will work with volunteers on seed collection and revegetation projects. These activities are in partnership with the Friends of Mount Gambier Area Parks and the Friends of Shorebirds South-East. The Southern Yorke Peninsula herbarium and Innes National Park will also receive a grant. The goal is to have a specimen of each plant species occurring in Innes National Park and a corresponding photograph of each plant at every stage of its seasonal life cycle. In Project Dolphin Safe, that wonderful initiative of—

The Hon. J.D. Hill interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The dolphin sanctuary was, but the Dolphin Safe organisation is a very glad participant in the dolphin sanctuary. It will receive $1,500 to assist with the Dolphin Sanctuary Management Plan. The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Management Plan is South Australia's first comprehensive plan to protect dolphin populations, and that management plan has been put in place to protect our iconic dolphin populations. South Australia is one of the few places in the world where bottlenose dolphins live in such close vicinity to a major city.

Our volunteers are a vital part of our parks network, and this grants program will assist them in furthering their wonderful work.

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