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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-15 Daily Xml
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Adjournment Debate

Holmes, Mr Allan

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (17:05): Tonight I just wish to place on record some comments about Allan Holmes, the former CEO of the Department of Environment. In particular, these comments are in response to a speech made by one of my colleagues on 16 September which was very critical of Mr Holmes. I just want to put on the public record that the comments made by the member for Finniss do not represent my view or, to my understanding, the Liberal Party's view. They are the member for Finniss's view.

I had the pleasure of working with Allan Holmes as minister. He served governments and ministers of both colours for around 15 years. I think it is poor form for members to take the opportunity to take a swipe at public servants who have done nothing more than implement the policies of the governments of the day, both Liberal and Labor. I attended Mr Holmes' farewell drinks at the invitation of the department, and I was pleased to do so, because I found Allan Holmes to be an excellent CEO. In my view, the reason he lasted 15 years in that position—had I had the opportunity to speak on the night I would have said this publicly, but I did say this both to Allan and his wife Gail on the night—was that he had integrity, and he was committed to implementing the policies of the government of the day.

What I find surprising is that, if you look at some of the achievements of the Department of Environment and governments of both colours, a lot of the achievements are actually in the electorate of Finniss or nearby the electorate of Finniss. I remember in my time as minister there was a fight over whether the Heysen Trail would be moved away from the Waitpinga cliffs, so that you could not see the Waitpinga cliffs. We came up with an innovative solution where the department engaged a real estate agent to engage a real estate agent to buy the land that became available so that they did not know it was the government. We then cut off the land, put the Heysen Trail back on the certificate of title, and then off-sold the land. We actually made money out of the deal in the end, because property values went up. As a result of that solution, people will forever be able to walk along the top of those Waitpinga cliffs as a public space and enjoy what are world-class cliffs.

The department under Allan Holmes spent $3 million buying the Wyndgate property, which was over 1,000 hectares of property adjacent to the Murray Mouth, and preserved all that as wetlands. The department rebuilt the Flinders Chase National Park. I moved legislation to make sure that there was no mining allowed in the Flinders Chase National Park or indeed the Seal Bay Conservation Area. These issues were in the electorate of Finniss, and I just ask the house to reflect on where Kangaroo Island would be without its tourism that is associated with the environmental qualities that are there?

Naturally, the Department of Environment and indeed the minister for environment of the day do pick up the responsibility to make the difficult calls about where and how to protect the environment. In my view, it is poor form to criticise public servants for doing nothing other than implementing the policies of the government of the day.

Allan Holmes was involved in many of the major reforms that happened under both governments. I remember the Bounceback program in the Flinders Ranges and the yellow-footed rock wallabies. The significant improvement over the last 10 or 15 years in that area of the state has been due to the policy that was adopted and carried forward by governments of both colours. I remember working with Allan on the prevention of mining in the Gammon Ranges National Park and Balcanoona Gorge—one of my prouder achievements in this place.

The reality is that Allan Holmes, in my view, was a good CEO. He was a decent, honest public servant and hard working, and to this day I could not tell you Allan's politics. Allan and I did not take the ministerial car on country trips: he would take his car and I would sit in the car and going to and from country areas we would talk about all matters environment and resolve a lot of issues that were bubbling away at the respective times, and I found him to be an excellent CEO.

I say to the house and members that if you do not like the powers some CEOs use, do not give them the power. It is this house that grants CEOs certain powers and certain responsibilities, and they have an obligation to undertake those responsibilities and consider using whatever powers this place grants them. Allan's time as CEO saw major change to the way the Department of Environment works, and it has undergone significant budget cuts under this particular government.

I am pleased to say, and I think the record might show, that the Department of Environment had its largest budget under the previous Liberal governments. He was involved in:

building a community-based natural resource management system and a regional delivery model, with some 800 staff based in eight regions;

the marine park network, which I know some on my side have difficulty with but which was originally my announcement in a slightly different form;

the co-management agreements with Aboriginal communities;

the bushfire management, which has significantly increased across our national parks;

the difficult issue of the River Murray during the drought, which was difficult for everyone;

the rebuilding of our visitor facilities through all the national parks—whether that be the Belair National Park, Flinders Chase, or parks at the bottom of Yorke Peninsula, all the major parks have been upgraded; and

a lot of work with non-government conservation organisations.

I want to place on the record my congratulations and thanks to Allan Holmes for his service to the state and I wish him well in retirement. As I say, I think he was a decent, honest CEO who had a lot of integrity, and that is what carried him through the process.

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