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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-04-11 Daily Xml
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TORRENS ISLAND

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (15:31): I wish first to note my sorrow at the prospect of the loss of 400 jobs at Holden. My sympathy is with the families caught up in this as they are working through their options and how they manage it. When we first worked through a support package for Holden—a co-investment with them—I spoke in this place about the importance of government partnership with the manufacturing sector to support its transition to advance manufacturing and to maintain our capacity to build and create things that Australians and the global markets want to buy.

It is no secret that manufacturing in a first-world country is challenging, but it is equally clear that we need to maintain a diverse economy and labour market and that means a healthy manufacturing sector as part of the mix. I have every confidence that this government and this Premier will do all he can and we can to support the workers caught up in this proposed reduction and will work through our relationship with the company after this very disappointing decision.

The other topic I wish to address today is Torrens Island, which is a teardrop-shaped island located in the Port River estuary between the Lefevre Peninsula and the Barker Inlet. It is about 15 kilometres north-west of the Adelaide city centre and sits within the Port Adelaide electorate. I have visited it many times over the years.

Torrens Island was named for the father of Sir Robert Torrens, premier of SA for one month in 1857. I would note that many erroneously believe that Torrens Island, Torrens titles and Mount Torrens were named for Sir Robert, but they were, in fact, named for his father, who was chairman of the South Australian colonial commissioners. However, I understand that the name of the whip member's (the member for Torrens) seat, Torrensville and Torrens Park are named after Sir Robert, the short-lived ex-premier.

Since European settlement in Adelaide in 1836, parts of Torrens Island have been used for a number of purposes but much of the island remains in remarkably good condition from an environmental perspective, particularly given its close proximity to the city of Adelaide, with much of its ecological values remaining intact.

For example, the soon-to-be expanded Torrens Island Conservation Park contains one of the very few remaining areas of coastal woodland that once covered the entire Lefevre Peninsula. I am very pleased that the government is in the process of extending the park and that I can, along with many community advocates, probably take some credit for the government's consideration of extending the boundary, given my own advocacy for it.

Much of the so-called island is, in fact, a complex of mangrove forest, creeks and samphire meadows that are subject to tidal inundation during high spring tides. Three main areas of the island—the northern end and the southern and middle of the island on the western side—are the only areas that are permanently dry and their current disposition points to the complexity of the island's land use arrangements.

The southern end hosts the heavy industry of Adelaide's main power station, owned by AGL, and once housed the Torrens Island Internment Camp—a World War I detention camp which held up to 400 men of German or Austro-Hungarian background between 9 October 1914 and 16 August 1915.

There is no doubt that the island is contested space. It forms the centrepiece of two important ecological protected zones—the Barker Inlet aquatic reserve and the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary—and is arguably one of Adelaide's most important ecological assets, albeit an island that has had parts of its land area given over to vital economic assets.

The middle section bordering the Port River houses the iconic Torrens Island quarantine station and some industry in the form of an Origin Energy peaking power station and AQIS facilities. The future management of the quarantine station is one that engages many people in the area and, in fact, across South Australia so many families have some kind of connection back to that quarantine station.

I assure the house that I am working hard to ensure the environmental and cultural heritage values of the island are protected for future generations and that only passive, carefully controlled activities, such as tourism and education, are pursued in the vicinity of the quarantine station. I am delighted that the Maritime Museum is running visits to the station, and get on to the museum if you want to book a trip, because that means that people are having a chance to get to the station and understand its part in our history.

I pay tribute to the recently-formed Friends of Torrens Island, a group of dedicated people from across Adelaide who want to see the natural and cultural values of the island preserved and protected, and work towards their better appreciation by the public. The formation of this group marks a very constructive step forward in bringing the community together with the government in working out how best to manage the more sensitive parts of Torrens Island. The group is positive in how it operates and gives thoughtful and considered advice to government, which I think is enormously valuable. I thank them for their time, expertise and commitment to the island and the station.

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