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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-02-23 Daily Xml
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Motions

Ngarkat Conservation Park

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (11:02): I move:

That this house requests His Excellency the Governor to make a proclamation under section 30(2) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 excluding allotments 104 and 105 in approved plan No. DP28853, Hundred of Fisk, lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office at Adelaide, from the Ngarkat Conservation Park.

The purpose of the motion is to excise the parcels from the Ngarkat Conservation Park and open them as public road. Under sections 30(2)(b) and 30(3) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, an alteration to the boundary of the Ngarkat Conservation Park will require a resolution of both houses of parliament and a subsequent proclamation by the Governor.

The Ngarkat Conservation Park is located 200 kilometres south-east of Adelaide and is one of four contiguous parks which, at 270,000 hectares, is considered the largest single remnant of native vegetation in the settled agricultural regions of South Australia. Ngarkat Conservation Park has a significant role in the conservation of biological diversity, provides for a range of low-key recreational opportunities and also provides an important overwintering area for the apiary industry.

The private agricultural property Kirra Station is wholly bounded by the Ngarkat Conservation Park. The Tatiara District Council has requested that the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources assists with formalising practical access to Kirra Station.

This motion addresses the proposed alteration to the boundaries of the Ngarkat Conservation Park to allow for a road opening to create legal access to Kirra Station. The land opening requires 10.85 hectares of land to be excised from Ngarkat Conservation Park. The land is located centrally to the eastern portion of Ngarkat Conservation Park and makes up less than 1 per cent of the park's total area.

The Tatiara District Council has closed an unmade road reserve and surrendered it to the Crown. It is proposed that the closed road be added to the Ngarkat Conservation Park and the 42.78 hectares be used as an environmental offset and part of the overall realignment of the park boundary. The land swap reflects a trade from a road to vegetation, so the swap is environmentally sound. This excision has been supported by the SA Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board, the South-East Aboriginal Focus Group, the South-East Public Lands and Biodiversity Advisory Committee, and the Tatiara District Council. I commend the motion to the chamber.

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (11:05): I rise to support the motion. As the minister said, Ngarkat Conservation Park is the largest conservation park in the settled areas of South Australia. It is a significant tract of native vegetation and, indeed, it abuts probably an even bigger area of native vegetation and conservation park in Victoria, directly across the border. This is an important piece of our conservation of native vegetation in that part of the state and, as I said, it is the biggest in the settled areas of the state.

The Ngarkat park is partially in my electorate of MacKillop and it was partially in Hammond, but I suspect that now it is in Chaffey. The boundary of the two electorates runs through somewhere in the middle of the park. I am not sure whether all or part of Kirra Station is in my electorate or all or part of it is in the electorate of Chaffey, to be quite frank, but I will come back to that in a moment. As well as being an important piece of conservation, Ngarkat is an interesting place and serves a number of purposes.

Ngarkat has provided winter habitat for the beekeeping industry, and there has been some controversy over this for some years. There are a large number of beekeepers resident in the local area as the town of Keith, which is just adjacent to the park on the south-western corner, is home to the beekeeping industry in South Australia because of the lucerne that is grown there and the importance of bees to the fertilisation of the flowers in the lucerne crop. That is a very important industry not just in that region but for the state. Ninety per cent of the small seed grown in the whole of Australia is grown in the Upper South-East, mostly in my electorate and some a little bit over the border at Frances in Victoria. It is a very important industry for the state and for the nation.

Beekeepers need to have somewhere to winter their bees and, traditionally, they have had pretty good access to Ngarkat park, and the native vegetation there has provided very good wintering for bees, particularly banksia, honeysuckle, etc., a lot of which flower in the winter months, when they provide the bees with a source of both pollen and food.

Another interesting thing about Ngarkat park is that in most summers it seems to catch alight from lightning strikes. Being such a large and fairly inaccessible area because of the sand dunes, it causes a fair bit of havoc when it does catch alight because, as I said, it is a large and relatively inaccessible area and it is reasonably hard to fight fires there. Certainly, in the time since I have been the local member, we have had campaigns which have lasted well over a week to control fires in Ngarkat park, and that has happened on more than one occasion.

Traditionally, the beekeepers, because of their economic interest in the park, have been at the forefront of controlling fires in the park and played a very important role. They have always been willing to get out in the middle of the night, or whenever it is necessary, to start work putting in firebreaks, carrying out back-burning and controlling fires in that vast area. Their efforts need to be recognised, not just for the importance to their own economic welfare but to the welfare of the park per se.

There has been a lot of controversy over the years, particularly between the department of environment, the local beekeepers and the local CFS as to how we should control fires. I am happy to bring the information to the house that the fire management today is much better than it was 20 years ago; common sense has prevailed. It does not always happen, but it has in this instance, and the way fires are managed in the park, in my opinion at least, is much more sensible than it was.

So, we have not wasted huge amounts of human effort and financial resources the way we have previously, and in so doing in my opinion we have saved the park from incredible devastation. I have been in the park after major bushfires, and all that is left is bare ground, bare sand. Obviously, being Australian native vegetation, the flora does bounce back very rapidly, but of course the fauna is devastated when this happens and fire has an incredible impact on the amount of fauna in the park. In some instances some of the species that are quite rare and endangered take many years to recover and to migrate back into parts of the park that have been burnt in a very severe bushfire.

So, it is incumbent on us to ensure that we do everything possible to minimise the adverse effects of bushfire in this area. That, in my opinion, from time to time, might entail controlled burning and mosaic burning and putting cool fires through parts of the park to break up the amount of fuel load that is left on the ground into areas that have a relatively low fuel load, such that they can be used both as a buffer and a point from where we can stop fires progressing when, inevitably, we get fires in the park.

They are always started by lightning. There is nothing we can do to stop them from starting, but I believe that we can do a lot to stop them from becoming devastating and burning out large proportions of the park. There have been instances where in excess of 50 per cent of the park (which is a big area) has been burnt.

Also, interestingly, within the park is a farming property called Kirra Station. Kirra, being an isolated farming property totally surrounded by a large tract of native vegetation and conservation park, has been used for many years as a quarantine station and provides a very important service, particularly to the livestock industry of this nation.

I have not been to Kirra for a number of years, but the last time I went there two new sheep breeds were being introduced into Australia to enhance the meat production capacity of our sheep flock—the Texel breed and the Finnish breed. The Texel breed was suppose to bring bigger muscling to provide more meat on the carcass of a sheep, and the Finn was introduced because of its high fecundity rate, to increase the lambing percentage from sheep. Both breeds have been infused quite widely into our sheep flock across the nation. I do not believe they have had quite the impact that was first thought and hoped, but they certainly have had an impact, particularly the Finn with its fecundity rates probably has had a greater impact than the Texel, but I stand to be corrected there.

The Kirra Station does provide a very important asset to the animal industry here in Australia, which again I would argue is one of the most important industries we have. This motion is a very sensible one. The only access to Kirra is via a roadway, the tenure of which has been part of the park. I think it is a very sensible move to declare that as a road to guarantee access to Kirra in an ongoing way. I applaud and support the move to close an existing dedicated road, which has never been turned into a made road, is not used as a roadway, and rededicate that as part of the conservation park. I think the area of the park will increase slightly via this move and, sensibly, the access to Kirra will be guaranteed into the future.

The only other comment I would make about the park is it is a very popular place for tourists, particularly four-wheel drivers and motorbike riders. In my experience—and I have ridden a motorbike through the park from south to north a few years ago—the people who utilise the park for those recreational purposes are very sensible and do stick to the tracks and do not abuse the park and cause problems there. It does attract a lot of people from a wide area of the state, and obviously from Victoria at least, who come there to get that outdoor experience in a very isolated area. Once you get into the middle of the park, it is isolated: you are a long way from nowhere.

I commend the motion to the house. I am sure that it will receive universal support. I hope that the park continues to be managed in a relatively fire-free way, because that will lessen the burden on myself, because every time there is a significant fire there, I get the phone calls from some of my disgruntled constituents. I hope that it continues to be managed in a way that minimises the impact of fire. With those words, I commend the motion to the house.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are the lead speaker for the opposition, member for MacKillop?

Mr WILLIAMS: Yes.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Member for Hammond.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:16): I rise to support this motion in regard to Ngarkat National Park. The motion reads:

That this house requests His Excellency the Governor to make a proclamation under section 30(2) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 excluding allotments 104 and 105 in approved plan No. DP28853, Hundred of Fisk, lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office at Adelaide, from the Ngarkat Conservation Park.

I note that that was first presented in the council, as I read in the heading. In regard to Ngarkat, and I will expand on my remarks shortly, my electorate used to share a boundary with Ngarkat but now it is just inside because of the last redistribution four years ago. This motion we are going through today needs resolution of both houses of parliament. The park, Ngarkat, covers 270,000 hectares, and it connects via the Ngarkat Highway between Pinnaroo and Bordertown, and there are various other tracks and roads by which you can access the park.

Landlocked inside the park is the rural property Kirra Station, which can only be accessed by a track which is legally part of the park and is currently maintained by the Tatiara District Council. The boundary shift will take this land, which is 10.85 hectares in total, from the park and legally vest it to the council as a road. In exchange, there will an environmental offset of an extra 42 hectares of unmade closed road which will become part of the park. This road is currently unmaintained and unused.

Certainly, just in regard to Kirra, I think it has been a very important part of quarantine efforts here, not just in South Australia but for Australia, in importing genetics from around the world, because of its isolation in the middle of a national park. It certainly clears up a whole heap of issues around biosecurity and the risk involved there. Just for a little bit of history, back in 1984, there was an evaluation of Angora goats imported from Texas to the Cudal Mohair Stud in Cudal, New South Wales:

The importation of some 74 Texan Angora goats by 17 different syndicates in 1984 has resulted in three quarantine stations holding progeny and while numbers have built up by breeding both within the imports and by crossing with Australian Angoras, the importing syndicates are somewhat reticent to cooperate in more than basic husbandry and reproductive management. Nevertheless, some evaluation work has been possible on Kirra Animal Quarantine Station (situated some 80Km north of Keith, South Australia) in conjunction with fleece classing research.

In regard to the angora goat program, by March 1990 some 1,100 angoras have resulted from this breeding program on Kirra, and in early 1990 the Kirra management committee agreed to allow National Mohair Pool to class the mohair clip and carry out research designed to develop classing techniques and evaluate production. All animals were shorn in March and September 1990 and the fleeces were weighed and classed. A comprehensive classing code was used to describe the condition, style, length, kempiness and fineness of each fleece. At each shearing, classed fleeces from each description were sampled and three such samples from each management group were randomly selected for testing of sourced yield and mean fibre diameter.

This resulted in 390 test results covering the range of classing types from the four mobs—whether it is kid bucks, kid does, adult bucks and adult does—at two shearings. By combining the classing codes with the test information, it was possible to estimate the clean fleece weight and mean fibre diameter of all animals. Additional information about kemp, style and condition was available from the classing codes. Breed effects were also determined by applying fleece information to the breeding information from the station's records. Shearing information on the buck flocks was less complete than that for the does because of special shearing requirements and the removal of sires from the mob for mating and semen collection. It was not possible to evaluate the reproductive ability of the animals since most of the breeding involved embryo transfer and/or artificial insemination.

Part of the results and discussion around what went on at Kirra were that shearing in March proved somewhat difficult, with a high sand content in the fleeces causing problems with combs and cutters. As a former shearer, I can relate to that. This problem is also encountered in sheep shearing in the district. The September shearing provided easier work with less sand and, while the grease content appeared higher and the style better, the tests indicated that the source yield was similar to that of the March shearing at least in the case of the female flock. Care is needed in interpreting yield information because of the specific sandy conditions experienced in summer in the Kirra environment.

Some other evaluation in regard to imported Texan angoras and their crosses was conducted by the Agricultural Business Research Institute, University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales. They talk about the Moplan estimated breeding values (EBVs) that have been calculated to aid breeders in selection among the Texan and Texan crosses from Kirra due to large variation among these goats. No Texan does were bred to Australian bucks for the reciprocal cross and no Australian angora goats were reared at the Kirra Quarantine Station, therefore heterosis could not be evaluated from this data.

Hybrid vigour influences most traits and will probably cause most angora breeders to overestimate the breeding value or the genetic merit of the Texans based on the performance of first crosses. Differences in performance of Texan and Texan crosses at the Kirra Quarantine Station were evaluated, the largest data set for these goats in Australia.

A little bit of history from the Warburn Stud website: in 1991, after several visits to Kirra Quarantine Station and seeing the superior American Suffolk breed of sheep came the purchase in February 1992 of a share in one of the top Rams APS 18921.90, therefore becoming the first stud to use those superior genetics in New South Wales. This introduced a larger frame sheep. Other rams that have influenced their stud have been several Langley Height rams which bred true Suffolk type. That is a little bit of the history of what has happened at Kirra and the vital part it has played around the issues of quarantine in this country. It is in the perfect situation. I think this is sensible legislation to get through the house, with the act formalising that the road become part of Tatiara District Council, and giving up the 40-odd hectares of unnamed road back to the park as the trade-off.

I, too, will discuss Ngarkat and the fires, as the member for MacKillop did. As indicated, it is about 270,000 hectares. It is interesting to note that whenever you look at a map involving Ngarkat generally you will see great fire scars through it. There have been countless fires in Ngarkat. Living at Coomandook, not far from it, when the fires start they get going, and you can see the red glow in the night sky. Some people say it is a lightning magnet out there, because that is generally how the fires get going.

These fires have done a fair bit of damage over time. I know one that was over 85,000 hectares in total, which is a major fire, and it tests the authorities and the CFS—which I am part of—in fighting these fires. Generally the trucks stay outside the scrub line and do what they can and the planes can go over occasionally and drop loads of water and gel to deal with the fire.

However, it does cause a real issue for neighbouring landholders. There was an issue, over 10 years ago now, where a big fire could have come out of Ngarkat and head towards the Mallee side up around Parrakie and Parilla, the Lameroo side. It was said that for all intents and purposes there could be up to 100-kilometre an hour winds later that Sunday afternoon that would bring the fire out of the park onto farmland. People were keen to light a burn-back, but everyone was worried about who would take the rap for burning the native vegetation.

I will give you some news: the native vegetation burnt anyway and we lost a lot of farmland because a decision was not taken on the ground. The problem we have is that the people on the ground are nervous about making that proactive decision. I believe they would have been protected by at least a couple of acts of parliament if they had lit the match on the burn-back—because that is exactly what should have happened. It would have saved the stress of losing all that country on the Parrakie, Lameroo and Parilla side and having a major fire to deal with.

In fact, the firebreak was going to be the Mallee Highway. Anyone knows that if a decent fire is coming at you with a fair bit of wind behind it (as we saw with Pinery) the highway is hardly going to be a firebreak. I think people need to be well aware of their rights. I also think that the commanders in these situations need to take really good note of the guys on the ground so that we do not see something escalate especially, as in this case, when that scrub was all going to burn—and it did burn.

However, I must say there has been some good proactive work done in recent years with scrub rollers to knock down breaks around the park, and people have been more aware, especially since that fire, I believe, of making sure that there is some form of control. The issue is not about being wanton or random about getting rid of scrub and native plants on the edge of the park: it is about the reality of what a fire can do. Coming from the country, we have all seen it and what it can do.

I commend the work of our CFS and our Victorian and New South Wales friends who come over at times to help us fight fires and also certainly Aerotech and the McCabe family, with their planes, and the vital work they do with other pilots in keeping our state and its people safe. Just on that, there are a couple of great park firefighting tractors that are based in Keith that are strengthened for fighting fires in the park. I heard that one was out the other day at Messent and the driver said he was going alright until the plane dropped a load of gel on him and then he could not see out of the windows. Be that as it may, he was safe because of the combined efforts. They have converted some rigs to withstand a fair bit of heat and a fair bit of abuse when having to go through the scrub and trying to tackle these fires.

Certainly, in light of that, beekeepers are a vital asset in the park, I believe. They have had restricted access in recent years, which I think is an issue, because they are really the unseen guardians of the park in my mind, who access tracks and keep tracks made up so that they can access their sites to winter their bees and drag that good Mallee Park honey out of the park.

I think we have to be mindful of that vital honey industry and the work that they do for this state, and certainly the work that the bees do for our agricultural commodities in regard to pollination of a vast array of crops. We must always be aware of making sure that it is one industry that gets more help. I think we need to stop and think about the work that these people do. Sure, they might be lining their own pockets, but they are also carers of the park. They are using it for commercial gain, but they also know they have to look after the park and the flora so that they can make an income.

As the member for MacKillop mentioned, Ngarkat is a great place to go camping. I have not been out there for a little while. I had an interesting trip once with my wife, who was fairly pregnant at the time, heading north from Tintinara through the back of the park. This was in an old three-speed Toyota which I got from a guy called Magnet at Frances, but that is beside the point. It was a good old rig, but I made sure I had enough food and drink to last us for a while, and I did say to my friends, 'If we don't get there by a certain time, come looking for us.' You know what happened: we got there on our own, but once we lost the front axle, and we had a flat tyre about 400 metres from the campsite. That was alright; my wife was only starting to show small amounts of stress.

It is a great place to go. You can do the Border Track, which is something I have not done, but I have certainly come in on various tracks from the Geranium and Parrakie side and the Pinnaroo end as well. It does play a vital part as a national park. It is a very large expanse of parkland. As part of that, the role that Kirra has played in there as a quarantine station is vitally important; it is in an ideal spot for this kind of work. This type of legislation is sensible legislation, and as far as the Tatiara council maintenance on the track into Kirra is concerned, it is probably just validating what they have been doing over many years. I commend the motion.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:32): I too rise to speak about the changes to the boundary of the Ngarkat Conservation Park under the National Parks and Wildlife Act and put on the record my support for these changes. I note that the consultation has been undertaken with those who may be impacted, but that there is very little impact on the land, the council and the conservation area that Ngarkat represents.

As the member for Hammond has said, the Ngarkat Conservation Park covers about 270,000 hectares. It is located in the electorate of Chaffey, and a small part of the conservation park is part of MacKillop. I thank the member for Hammond for his gracious handover of Ngarkat before the 2014 election; it was very kind of him. Ngarkat is, in one way, a very beautiful park, but in other ways it is a very harsh piece of country. It is flat; I think the highest point is a 132-metre little point called Mount Shaugh. Obviously the vegetation is very low and very compact, but in the times that I have been through Ngarkat, I have been through with quite diverse weather conditions. I have been there on a 50°C day. It is very, very arid; it is very harsh country. I have also been through there with thunderstorms going through.

One of the unique experiences of going through Ngarkat with a thunderstorm is that, because the expanse of country is so flat and vegetated, it is quite beautiful to be able to see expanses of lightning and rainclouds coming across that piece of country which, historically, has been regarded as under a rain shadow. It has been a piece of country that has dealt with the people who have tried to adapt to it very harshly.

Ngarkat was part of a group of four conservation parks declared in 1979 to protect the remnant of the original 90 Mile Desert in the Mallee and is linked to Mount Rescue, Scorpion Springs, Mount Shaugh and Ngarkat Conservation Park. The Ngargad people were the original inhabitants of that area and their artefacts have been located around the freshwater soaks. Pastoralists attempted sheep grazing in the late 1800s, but those leases were abandoned after a decade. As I have said, it is a very harsh piece of country which is very dry and which does not have the reliable rainfall that the pastoralists need.

The area is flat and waterless. As I have said, the highest point is 132 metres, but the vegetation is very complex, as I understand it. There are about 12 species of mallee trees or bushes and fauna in the park which do present some real beauty. Some of the native flowers that come to life after a rain, or particularly within season, are quite majestic. There is some native wildlife, but not a lot. There are obviously a lot of kangaroos. We do have a lot of birdlife. There are about 120 species of birds: thornbills, honeyeaters, malleefowl and the western whipbird. One of the species of bird that has been almost wiped out to extinction, mostly by bushfire, is the mallee emu-wren. That was highlighted after a recent fire that went through Billiatt and Ngarkat Conservation Parks. It had an absolutely catastrophic impact on that species of bird.

Some people might remember that the Billiatt park was almost totally burnt. I think a lesson that needed to be learnt, not only by the department and the people who were managing that park but by the people who were managing the bushfire program, was that a lot of the cold burns that were meant to be implemented, particularly in Billiatt, were not. A lot of those prescribed burns were attempted as a cold burn and they did not take, but where that back-burning and those cold burns did take is where the park was least impacted.

Of course, the fire also jumped into Ngarkat and had a real impact. You can only imagine the effect on small birdlife, or any form of native wildlife, that is being impacted by harsh conditions and then all of a sudden a fire travels through at extraordinary speed. I know that we have seen other fires. The recent Pinery fire went through pasture, cereal crops, some minor tree areas, scrub and wooded areas, but when it hits a conservation park there is fuel for fire. There is no turning back once you get a fire in there, particularly with hot windy conditions, as it just takes off.

I think that was obviously a real concern in the 2014 fires which were started by lightning. It had a huge impact as 71,000 hectares were burnt at Ngarkat and the fire in Billiatt burnt out over 92,000 hectares of grass, scrub and stubble. It also had an impact on the farming communities. We were very lucky there were not the deaths that could have happened, although a lot of property was damaged.

I pay tribute to the neighbouring landowners who went above and beyond in helping the CFS and the DEWNR bushfire teams, because their on-ground knowledge was instrumental in preventing that fire from having a much greater impact. I note that some of the landowners are fully equipped to deal with those fires. They have their own fire trucks and their own equipment; some even have planes to go up and spot what is going on.

I know the landowners were relying on some of the information from the department, but they are totally reliant on action and an action plan when it comes to bushfires, particularly those that come out of conservation parks or scrub, because they are big, fast-moving fireballs that could destroy their livelihoods, their homes, their livestock and, potentially, human life. Those fires are probably one of their biggest concerns.

On the positive side, this boundary realignment will give some continuity to managing Ngarkat, particularly now that that small piece of land is going to be aligned into Ngarkat. It will allow the continuous management of Ngarkat and it will also capture the fire management plan. Prescribed burns can now occur on that piece of land, which will help Ngarkat to be managed as one parcel, instead of that one piece of land being excluded from prescribed burns.

Ngarkat has a huge association with the apiary industry. The industry is very heavily involved. At the moment, there are 290 commercial sites in Ngarkat where bee colonies are looked after. Ngarkat is used as a refuge for working bees, so they can rebuild their colony strength, particularly after, in many cases, being used in horticulture.

They are used in what is now one of the big, booming industries that is very reliant on bees—the almond industry. The commercial sector goes mostly into almonds with fully-stocked hives, so they can pollinate those trees, which are almost gold machines at the moment. The almond industry is going through a boom, particularly due to the drought that is going on in California.

The hives are full when they go into the almonds but, as they work the almonds, pollinating and cross-pollinating, the bees use the honey and they use all their strength. Once the almond flowering is complete, those bees are exhausted—totally spent. They have been working as hard as they can, so a lot of them are taken into Ngarkat, as I said, to rest, rebuild, get the colonies back up to strength and refill those hives with Mallee honey.

That is very important to South Australia's economy and to our reputation for having disease-free bees. We are now seeing mites and viruses starting to impact on bee sites in a lot of countries, and South Australia can be very proud of its reputation. We have had some disease scares with bees but, essentially, this has been one of the benefits of Ngarkat over time.

I do note that about 70 per cent of sites are being used by the commercial sector of the apiary industry. I would like to see the state government promoting the apiary industry much more strongly, filling up those conservation parks and making them a benefit to our commercial economy in South Australia. That has been put to the government and, to date, it has not been endorsed strongly enough by the minister. I urge him to consider that bees and pollination play a very important part not only in nature and but also in that commercial sector.

The wild dog management organisation will also now use this piece of land. Rather than having that buffer that the wild dog management used to look after Ngarkat, they will now be able to use the management regime over this realigned boundary, which will make it much easier for the department and the park rangers to be able to go in there and keep our parks and areas of land wild dog free.

This area that is coming into Ngarkat is commonly known as block 11. Its habitat will also assist the mallee emu-wren. I mention the mallee emu-wren because it is of significant importance here in South Australia. It is reported that there are currently only 100 of these mallee emu-wren left in existence in the Murray-Mallee, particularly after the fires. What it will mean is that the mallee emu-wren will now be able to be part of a translocation into the park.

It will allow breeding with a very high element of security so that, if we are finding these emu-wren, they are caught, captured and monitored and can be brought into Ngarkat so that we can breed them and increase their numbers so that they are not potentially going to be one of these extinct varieties of birds which, quite sadly, is a real issue for today's native species of birds. As I said, after these big fires, birds are probably one of the most impacted species on the planet. With that contribution, I support the boundary changes and recommend this motion to the house.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:46): I rise to speak on the motion before the house to request the Governor to make a proclamation in respect of the excising of land, a portion of which is currently in the Ngarkat Conservation Park. This is a park which abuts the South Australia-Victoria border. I defer to the intimate and personal knowledge in the contributions of the member for MacKillop, member for Hammond and member for Chaffey, who clearly understand the historical and current significance of this conservation area.

I just place on the record that I have visited this park on one occasion as the guest of the member for Hammond to investigate a number of matters: firstly, the aftermath of a recent fire at the time. Sadly, a lot of our conservation parks only get noticed by the rest of South Australia if they are incinerated by a fire. Similarly, in this situation, I was taken to areas where there had been substantial damage to the wildlife and, in particular, flora which, as explained by the member for Chaffey, is low-level bush and is obviously the home of a number of fauna and flora species which are important to South Australia's preservation.

I was informed at the time of its history. Most significant was an area that was quarantined from development as part of the Ninety Mile Desert in the Tom Playford era to open up lucerne and other agricultural produce as a result of pipelines being taken down to that area under the Playford administration. This has been confirmed to be a multimillion dollar industry for which we are very grateful here in South Australia.

Importantly, to facilitate that industry, beekeeping has been a necessary adjunct, obviously, for the cross-pollination capacity of our bees, and we would not have an industry in this region if it were not for them. Therefore, to have a sanctuary for bees as a winter resort which, apparently, a portion of this park has been, but also to have access to the fauna for the purposes of feeding the bees in their general activity, is critical. With that, we also had a look at a number of the areas of the local CFS, courtesy of the member for Hammond who introduced me to modified vehicles.

Mr Pederick: Yes, that's right.

Ms CHAPMAN: 'Upgraded', I think you described them as, but modified is what I would call them. I am not entirely sure that they all met all the approval processes of the hierarchy of the Country Fire Service, but they seem to be excellent in being able to clear land at a low level; minimum impact to low bush but effective. I think that is the ingenuity of the local people there, and I thank the member for Hammond for that.

I would like to make two points in relation to this motion. Obviously it is a process we have to go through if we are going to change the boundary of a conservation park, but I ask this question: notwithstanding that we know that Kirra Station is landlocked within the precincts of this conservation park and that there is other private land south of this region that has some heritage agreements over it, I still do not know who owns Kirra Station. It appears to have had an interesting history and has made a very valuable contribution to South Australia by being a sanctuary for bees and by being, from time to time, a quarantine facility for new breeds of sheep and the like (and other members have made contributions in this regard), but I do not know whether the Department of Primary Industries owns this or the Department of Lands or Tom Brinkworth; I do not know.

I have no idea who actually owns this property and I do not know what its current use is, but I think that is a question we should have a response to from the Minister for Education, who is presenting this motion in the house, as well as advice on what activities are currently happening there. We know that Torrens Island is effectively closed down as a quarantine sanctuary in South Australia; all our livestock (I think even our cats and dogs), except for a few birds, all have to go through the quarantine station in Victoria out of Melbourne, so I would like to know what its current use is.

I would also like to know why, after what appears to be years, this road is now going to be formalised as an asset of the park and there is going to be a transfer of other land back. As I understand the background to the motion, this track, which is identified as the proposed new road reserve, is a track that is currently being used and has been used for some time; we are simply going to swap this with a portion of land to formalise this arrangement. It seems as though the existing road reserve—which apparently has been unused for a long time, in any event—will transfer, and I would like to know what is going to happen to that. Are they going to let weeds grow all over it or let it go back to native vegetation? What is going to happen there?

As it abuts the northern boundary of the huge area of heritage agreement land on private land south of the Ngarkat park, I would be concerned if it were closed. I am a great advocate of ensuring that we keep roadways open for accessibility for tourism or for four-wheel driving or for the protection of flora or fauna, or for whatever purpose the conservation park is principally involved in. It needs to be accessible and it needs to be protected. If there is an existing road there, even a dirt track (which most of these are, other than the Ngarkat Highway I think), then I think that needs to be maintained.

I do not know who is going to do it but I think it should be maintained, and we need to be able to have access, especially if Kirra Station were to come under threat or if a fire came up through the private property on the southern boundary of Ngarkat Conservation Park. I would also like to know, if it is the government that owns Kirra Station, what is it planning to do with it? Is this formalising of the boundaries and transfer of the roads all part of a plan to ultimately sell it, or, if it is in private ownership, have they applied or are they proposing to sell it? I do not know. If it is privately owned and not government-owned land, are they making a contribution to the costs of transfer of the land swap in this regard?

I appreciate that the local council has, apparently, been maintaining this road, and it is seeking some kind of formality. I expect that is a lot to do with risk and a lot to do with who gets sued if there is an accident on it, and all those things. I am not against formalising this, but there has been no explanation given to the house in what I have read to date regarding why we are doing this now and what the intention is of the owner, especially if that is known to the government, or if, in fact, the government, through one of its instrumentalities or departments, is the owner of this property, what it is intending to do with it.

Is it going to go on the long list of assets that are in the fire sale auction house of the SA government? If it is, I think we need to know about it. If it is in private hands, I would like to know what contribution is being made by the private owner for the cost of resurveying and the transfer of this land and, obviously, all the legal costs associated with its transfer.

Motion carried.

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