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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-10-17 Daily Xml
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Question Time

MARINE PARKS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. How many jobs in regional South Australia and the state seafood industry are expected to be lost due to the establishment of the marine parks no-take zones and what is the government doing to find these people alternative employment in their communities? The fishing industry alone employs over 4,200 people in regional South Australia and is often the largest employer in regional coastal communities. The minister has advised that the economic impact of the proposed marine parks on the fishing industry would be no more than 5 per cent statewide.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:08): As Minister for State Development, I have great pleasure in answering this question about marine parks because marine parks—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —are about the future health of the South Australian economy. It has always been—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is also about every person who has ever gone fishing with their young son, grandson or granddaughter, making sure that they can continue to do that into the future.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That is what this has always been about. It has always been about having a healthy environment so that we can have a healthy fishing industry in the future, so that we can have a healthy tourism industry—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You will listen to the Premier!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —so that we can protect the lifestyle that South Australians have grown up with and loved. What passed for entertainment in my family in the early years of my life was going down and unearthing some tube worms down at the Port River, and actually—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —or using slightly more skill by going to Sellicks Beach and finding beachworms. It takes a lot of skill to get those things.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Bragg, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: They are about as thick as your little finger and they are great bait as well, I can tell you. There is no policy that will be implemented under any government I lead that will devastate the fishing industry, in particular the recreational fishing industry that is a—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —much loved pastime for many people in South Australia. It's part of my heritage. I know it's part of the heritage of the Minister for Environment and Conservation. Indeed, he is a decorated fisherman.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order. What is your point of order?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: Standing order 98: relevance. The question was about jobs—

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Mr WILLIAMS: —given that the minister said that the—

The SPEAKER: You've made your point, member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: —job loss would be no more than 5 per cent.

The SPEAKER: You've made your point, member for MacKillop. The answer is certainly in relation to the question, so I do not have any problems with it.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The question proceeds from a false premise. The false premise is that this is about job losses. This is about sustaining jobs. It is about—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: They are out of touch with community opinion. Community opinion is that you need a healthy marine environment to have a healthy economy. That's what wise fishermen will tell you and that's what wise fishermen are advancing to us. For the last almost 10 years, we've been advancing this agenda—before we were actually in government. When the member for Davenport was in the role where he was advancing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —the Howard government agenda around marine parks, he was saying the same things we were saying about having a healthy marine environment sustaining a healthy economy. We have done the hard work in discussing this community by community, region by region, to make sure that we get—

Mr Pengilly: Yes, and you haven't listened to any of them.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —a world-class—

Mr Pengilly: You haven't listened to any of them.

The SPEAKER: Member for Finniss, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —that we get a system of world-class marine parks that we will be proud of. Just look at the devastation that's occurred off Gulf St Vincent here. That could be the future in our pristine regions around our state if we do not take these steps now.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: This is an opportunity to promote—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Transport and the Treasurer, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I make this prediction: once these marine parks are settled in, people will be marketing the produce that's harvested from our waters as coming from our clean green pristine waters. It will be a competitive advantage for this state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! If this question time continues in this vein, then I will either call it to a halt or a lot of people will leave.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Torrens.

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