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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-07 Daily Xml
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Adjournment Debate

VICTOR HARBOR AQUATIC CENTRE

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (16:22): I am happy to avail myself of the opportunity for a brief adjournment grieve. There are two issues I would like to talk about this afternoon. Victor Harbor's The Times, out today, has comprehensive coverage on the proposal for an aquatic centre on the South Coast. This has been going on for many years. The need for a swimming pool has been pushed ad infinitum and various promises and commitments have been made over many years. However, the Wright family of Victor Harbor have made available some land on Waterport Road, a very generous offer of around $700,000, I think it is, worth of land for an aquatic centre. The two local councils, the Alexandrina Council and the City of Victor Harbor, have had a project committee working toward this project for some time.

If I have been lobbied on two things in my electorate very heavily, particularly on the South Coast, one is euthanasia, which will take its course in here ultimately, and the other is for a swimming pool. The demand for a swimming pool is great, particularly hydrotherapy. The need for a hydrotherapy pool has continued to grow with the number of retired people down there and the number of people who need rehabilitation, and a number of those who just generally need rehabilitation and a hydrotherapy pool.

I am very supportive of the idea for a pool. Of course, it is bigger than putting a hole in the ground, it needs to be an aquatic centre with various other things attached to it. I am looking forward to the day when it commences but I am looking forward even more to the day when it is completed, but that is a fair way off. I know The Times is very supportive of it, but I caution that although the two councils are committed to putting in funding it is very dependent on getting outside funding and also on being some sort of business structure that will actually work.

It is good news, and I congratulate the councils for getting it this far. It has been put up before and has fallen over, and this time it is a step closer. However, I think we need to be very careful that people's hopes are not built up too much just in case it falls over once again due to lack of funding.

The other thing that I would like to bring to the house's attention is the bizarre happenings with the national parks in relation to the destruction of Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island. This was brought to my attention by a beekeeper two or three weeks ago, and I shook my head in disbelief. For the benefit of the house: the Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island are the purest strain of those types of bees in the world. Indeed, the queen bees are exported around the world, and the honey created by those bees is of a fine quality. They are a tame bee, as far as bees can be, and they are found right across the island.

It has been brought to my attention that the national parks on Kangaroo Island have instigated a program of annihilation of the Ligurian bee in their parks. From what I understand, either a visitor or employee was stung by a bee, and instead of using a bit of common sense and calling on the local beekeepers to come in and remove the odd swarm as it was found, they have decided to have the 'final solution' in relation to the bee population across their parks.

I am informed they are allegedly using a chemical which I think is called Neosporin, but I am not 100 per cent certain, so I will have to check up on that. If they are indeed using this chemical, I am very concerned. It just seems to me to be taking a sledgehammer to a small problem. It is alleged that the issue is to do with occupational health and safety. I am also informed that the staff who have been told to put this into place are not at all happy about poisoning the bees. They cannot speak for fear of retribution, as I understand it.

The beekeepers on the island are not happy. The spots people go to on the island are well known, and I do not think I have to go into that, but it seems like it is taking a sledgehammer to a small problem that may or may not happen, in an effort to put ridiculous occupational health and safety conditions into something which is just not required.

The Ligurian bees are amazing insects, and they are the purest strain in the world. So, to me, it seems to be a crying shame that this government department has allegedly set out on this program of annihilating Ligurian bees wherever they may be in the parks system, whether it be Flinders Chase, Kelly Hill Coves or Seal Bay—I am not sure. But, I believe that it should be matter the government picks up immediately, if they are not aware of it. It is foolhardy in the extreme.

I am sure that when the message gets out about what is going on there will be public uproar about it. It is simply not good enough. If this is indeed happening, the department should be called to account on it. The minster should take immediate action on this to find out what is going on. I understand that the matter was briefly raised in another place today, but there was the opportunity to put a bit more detail in front of our house this afternoon. It concerns me, and I look forward to some speedy answers to what I view as a foolhardy exercise by the national parks on Kangaroo Island.

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