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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-04 Daily Xml
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Natural Resources Management

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:25): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister update the house on the statewide consultation for the natural resources management reform and what local communities are saying through the process?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:25): I thank the member for Finniss for his question. I have been conducting statewide consultations, particularly in regional South Australia, over recent weeks in relation to this government's very substantial reforms to natural resources management.

Two things have become very apparent during those consultations: (1) that there are very significant problems with the NRM system as it currently stands and (2) that regional South Australia really doesn't have a lot of time for the Labor Party in South Australia and really lays a lot of blame for the problems with NRM, as it currently stands, directly at the feet of the previous government, who ignored regional South Australia and who have a huge amount to answer for when not giving regional communities the respect and support that they quite clearly deserve from an economic, social and environmental point of view over 16 long years of Labor.

It has been good to get out and about into regional communities. I note that many of the communities that I have visited in recent weeks have been subsequently visited by the Leader of the Opposition as part of his ongoing apology tour of regional South Australia. Thankfully, it's not an apology that I need to give regional South Australia; it's quite different. It's a message that we are here to listen to them in an authentic way and that we are going to rework the natural resources management system in a way that is simplified, that is accessible and that actually gets outcomes for regional communities.

Our regional tour in relation to natural resources management started off a few weeks ago in Port Lincoln. We held forums in Port Lincoln and Ceduna. I also was able to attend a forum in Port Augusta and then headed through to Victor Harbor, where the member for Finniss hosted me. I have also been to McLaren Vale and Murray Bridge, and of course there have been forums around other parts of the state as well. The message is very clear: people do want a system that heads back to basics, and that's what we have been talking about since we were in opposition—the need for an NRM system which is back to basics, focuses on good water management, soil quality programs and removing pests from the landscape.

If we do that and we do it well, we will create a landscape which is more resilient towards the impacts of climate change and can adapt more readily to that. Also, we will create a landscape which has biodiversity and places very significant value on sustaining biodiversity. Biodiversity and our natural landscape in South Australia is in a very bad place. It has declined year on year over many decades. One of the biggest threats to biodiversity is pests in the landscape, whether that be pest plants suffocating native vegetation or pest animals killing native wildlife.

To get back to basics will position us in a far better way to build a resilient landscape with regard to both climate change and biodiversity conservation. If we get those things right, if we get those things on point, we can then move towards a productive economic natural landscape as well—upholding the natural landscape for both our environment and the economic development of our state. It has been a pleasure to get out and about in regional South Australia over the last few weeks, and I look forward to continuing to update the house on this very sensible, very wide-reaching reform to natural resources management.

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