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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-05-01 Daily Xml
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Myponga Reservoir

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister update the house on the successful opening of the Myponga Reservoir to the public in April and the positive impact this and future reservoir openings will have on their local communities and economies?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:54): What a great opportunity to update this house on another one of the Marshall Liberal government's election policies being well and truly on the way to being fulfilled, that is, the opening of a number of reservoirs for recreational opportunities across our state.

In mid-April we began that process with the official opening of the reserve lands which surround Myponga Reservoir on the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula. It was great to be joined by the Deputy Premier, the member for Finniss and the member for Heysen at that official opening and also Georgina Downer, the candidate for the federal seat of Mayo, who came along and enjoyed that event.

The opening of these reservoirs is part of an opportunity to really stimulate regional communities where these reservoirs are found in regional South Australia. We are seeing that happening in Myponga. As well as 2½ thousand people visiting Myponga Reservoir on the day that it opened, we have had, on average, 200 people each day visiting the reservoir since it opened. We have a population in the township of Myponga of only about 400 people, so we are seeing a 50 per cent increase day on day of people visiting the shops in that community and the local businesses.

It was really interesting to hear from the Smiling Samoyed Brewery, which sits just on the shores of the reservoir. They have seen their best month on record with the opening of that reservoir, the best business they have achieved since they opened several years ago. That's exactly what we wanted to achieve with this policy—opening up the gates, removing the fences, giving people the opportunity to explore somewhere they haven't been able to explore before, getting out into the great outdoors, enjoying the natural environment, connecting with nature and learning about nature. It is about young and old and everyone in between being able to visit a place they weren't able to before.

When people travel out into these communities they will spend money, and that is exactly what we are seeing. We are seeing it in the local businesses around the Myponga township, and we will see it across the state. We will see it in the Southern Flinders Ranges when we work to open up those reservoirs. We will see it in the Para area with the Little Para Reservoir and the South Para Reservoir. We have already stocked the South Para Reservoir with 180,000 fingerlings because that's going to be a destination reservoir for fishing in the future.

We are really excited about the prospects of this policy, and we know that this will bring communities to life and it will create economic activity in regional South Australia. There are metropolitan reservoirs that we are planning to open for recreational opportunities in the future as well. That includes the Hope Valley Reservoir in the north-east of our capital city and it includes the Happy Valley Reservoir in the south-west of the city. Again, there are more opportunities to get people into nature. It's really interesting to see how many people are keen to go somewhere that they haven't been able to get to before, and to partner with various organisations—Trees For Life, Nature Play SA—to bring people into the environment to enjoy those experiences.

It was a very exciting date for Myponga in April, but a less exciting day for the South Australian Labor Party fundamentally opposed to this policy. They have continually put barriers in the way but it was great to get an endorsement from Saskia Gerhardy, the Labor candidate for Mayo, who told us on her Facebook that she congratulated the organisers on this great work. The Marshall Liberal government thanks her for the endorsement because we were the organisers.

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