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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-25 Daily Xml
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JET SKIS

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (15:22): I just want to briefly weigh in to an earlier grievance, if I can, before I go on to the main thrust of my contribution. I have been brought up in such a way—and I have followed that in all the jobs I have had—that, if you are an individual who sees something wrong or people who are doing things that are wrong, you notify the appropriate authorities to let them know what is going on so that appropriate action can be taken. It certainly seems to be my view, and I think the view of many other people, that the member for Unley could well abide by that. Most people embrace that view, and that is that we have a duty of care and a responsibility to do the right thing, and often the right thing is informing authorities about things that need to be remedied. I hope the member for Unley follows that view into the future.

Today I want to speak about an issue that is affecting many of my constituents, particularly in the summer months. We are now well into winter and soon it will be spring and the warmer months will be upon us, and I cannot wait for that to occur. However, in most recent years, we have seen a great influx in the number of jet skis that operate off the metropolitan coastline.

These jet skis pose a threat to the safety of our beach patrons, from my constituents' perspective, as well as the perspective of others who visit the beach on warm days and not so warm days to take in the ambience and the beauty of it, to relax and have a good time and use that natural resource, our gulf, as best they can.

Our local beaches are very popular and they are used by many hundreds of thousands of South Australians very regularly. It is certainly my view that the use of these jet skis pose a threat to the safety of our beach patrons. These machines are certainly intrusive in their nature. They make a heck of a lot of noise and they have led to many complaints being received by my office, not just from residents who live along the beachfront but others who, as I said, visit our beaches. I believe that they are operating in a hazardous manner, not to mention the impact they have on the overall beach environment, from a pollution and noise perspective.

What we have found over the years is that, despite the complaints and despite my taking this up with successive ministers and working with the council, the current compliance and enforcement measures are, for want of a better term, ineffective in controlling inappropriate jet ski usage. To that extent, I am not only in discussions with the minister who must be very annoyed at the number of letters I have written to that office over the years, plus the local councils, saying we need a better system by which the use of jet skis can be managed.

It is certainly my view, and that of my constituents, that the government, to take action, should be considering excluding the use of jet skis in metropolitan waters and, in fact, give consideration to designing designated jet ski areas where their use will be less intrusive on the community than it currently is.

I look forward to again taking this matter up with the minister on behalf of my community and the people of South Australia to make sure that the intrusive nature and the disturbances caused by the inappropriate use of jet skis along our metropolitan coastline are remedied in such a way that people can enjoy their outings to the beaches that they cannot really enjoy when there is a preponderance of these craft being operated in such a way.

I have a minute left and I want to briefly talk about a couple of the clubs in my electorate. I will not get through them. The Henley Football Club, under the coaching of Gavin Colville, with the season ending, looks like getting into the finals again, and I wish Henley Football Club the very best. As members will know, Gavin Colville was a star of the West Torrens Football Club and has brought his coaching skills to Henley. We are sitting fourth at the moment and we hope that we beat ROC's this week and get a double chance by the end of the season.

I have other football clubs on the outer of my electorate and, sir, you would be very familiar with these. Whilst it is not in my electorate, I have constituents who are feeders and players into the Seaton Football Club, and they are doing very well as well; as is the case with SMOSH West Lakes, that is outside my electorate as well, along with Flinders Park.

I wish all those football clubs the very best and look forward to the summer months when those members of the Grange Surf Life Saving Club and the Henley Surf Life Saving Club, the Grange Cricket Club and Fulham Cricket Club will ply their trades, protect the beaches, and also continue to contribute to the great community we have in my electorate.

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