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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-12-02 Daily Xml
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Fisherman Bay

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:57): I rise to talk about a project in the north of my electorate, which has finally taken shape after close to 30 years of attempts—that being the freeholding of the Fisherman Bay community. The Fisherman Bay community is a rather unique one. It has been a leasehold community for quite some time, which has prevented any investment from those people who own the leases at that site to do up their shacks to make them more livable and make it a more attractive community altogether. But, as I said, after some 30 years it is finally happening.

The first titles were handed over eight days ago now, on Wednesday of last week, to those people who registered their interest in doing so, and we are well on the way to having a completely freehold community. It should spur significant investment into that part of the world and, hopefully, result in a far more attractive holiday destination. I have only been the member for Narungga for almost four years, and it has been a really important part of my work during that time. It is particularly pleasing to see it finally come to fruition.

That being said, it has been a long-term project, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who have helped me, who I know have been involved in the process for a lot longer, for the work they have done. I thank Mr Peter Barrie, Mr Robert Hosking and Mr Bruce Manhire, as well as Sue Valente—all people who have helped me along the journey and, as I previously said, have been involved.

I gave a grieve in this place in 2020 about the importance of this project and what it would mean. At that time, I talked about how Peter Barrie, Robert Hosking and Bruce Manhire showed me around the community, showed me what they had planned and articulated to me all the things they had done over the journey to try to bring it to fruition.

At that time—this being over a year ago now—they were confident that the end was in sight, that the horizon was coming closer and that they would finally get to make it happen. There has been a little bit of a changing of the guard since that time, and Sue Valente has been the lady I have dealt with mostly since then, and it is pleasing to see that all still managed to happen.

There are some 432 allotments at Fisherman Bay, and it has been a quite monumental effort to try to get all the ducks in a line to make sure they can all be freeholded and made available to those leaseholders who currently exist there. It has had Development Assessment Commission support since 2012, with the process was started in July 2010. Of course, the idea was spawned a long time before that.

They have had difficulties along the journey from the Environment Protection Authority, the Coast Protection Board, transport services, Crown Lands, fire compliance and SA Water, and there are still issues that need to be resolved around coastal protection. You can see why it has taken so much time, with so many hoops they have had to jump through.

Key to making it all happen has been two things. The first, I am really pleased to report, was a $3 million grant from SA Water to augment the Community Wastewater Management Scheme. That grant was made possible through SA Water, and it is really pleasing to see that has been made available and will result in this project finally happening. It will have a flow-on benefit for the people of Port Broughton and Barunga West Council, as their wastewater scheme becomes larger and more efficient.

It was pleasing to be out there last Friday for a sod-turning—I do not get to do many of them—and a ceremonial photo. After the photo was taken, a front-end loader came in and picked up all the loose dirt, which is a far more efficient way to turn a sod as far as I am concerned. It was pleasing to be a part of it, and a pivotal part of it was making sure that the CWMS was up to speed and able to cope with the increased pressures it will come under.

The other key part has been to get all the right people in the right places. It is not to denigrate any one person, particularly any one person who might be up in the Hansard office who previously occupied the position of chief executive officer of Barunga West Council, but I would like to commend Maree Wauchope, the current chief executive officer, and the current council for the work they have done. There have been some issues with that, some difficulties in making it happen, but wherever they have arisen Maree has found a way to overcome them. Without her and without the current council, I am sure we would not be at this place today.

As I opened with, significant investment will be unlocked as a result of this freeholding. People who own leases and shacks at Fisherman Bay will now be able to invest with confidence, knowing that they have tenure and will be able to enjoy the use of that shack for the foreseeable future and that it will have resale value. It is estimated that it will spawn approximately $25 million worth of investment in the region, and that will only be a good thing for our part of the world.

It will mean greater rate revenue for the council, a more attractive place for people to visit on the Northern Yorke Peninsula and a really exciting development, one that has been 30 years in the making. It is especially pleasing to have been part of finally delivering it.

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