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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-23 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: KANGAROO ISLAND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:56): I move:

That the report of the committee on natural resource management on Kangaroo Island be noted.

This report should be read in conjunction with the committee's September 2007 report titled 'Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board Levy Proposal 2007-08' and the recommendations contained within. The Natural Resources Committee's visit to Kangaroo Island in May 2007 was an opportunity to meet and speak with members of the local community and examine the management of natural resources on the island.

At the time of the visit, the committee found that these resources were generally well managed by the Kangaroo Island natural resources management board and the Department for Environment and Heritage and National Parks and Wildlife. The committee was impressed with the work of the NRM board and especially its efforts in community consultation which surpassed the Natural Resources Management Act requirements.

It appeared to the committee, at the time, that effective consultation had generated goodwill and support in the community towards the board and its activities, and the committee commends this approach to other NRM boards. However, since its visit, the committee has become aware of assertions that the board now has an issue with needing to build trust and confidence among its community arising from discussions surrounding possible prescription of water resources on the island and perceived conflicting information issuing from the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation.

A common theme raised by some witnesses in hearings and submissions was that additional dams were needed for improved supply security and economic development, and that this would require the destruction of native vegetation presently protected under the Native Vegetation Act. Since those submissions were made, the committee has become aware of recent Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation studies reporting significant environmental stress on the 30 per cent of the land subject to high proportion of stream flow extraction.

The committee supports the DWLBC recommendations for further studies of impacted catchments and SA Water's call to prescribe water resources in the Middle River catchment (the source of much of the island's reticulated water supply) and restrict forestry in the area. The committee is also mindful of future climate change induced rainfall impacts on Kangaroo Island. For these reasons the committee recommends prescription of water resources on Kangaroo Island and additional controls on water affecting activities.

If not properly managed, Kangaroo Island's sizable coverage of native vegetation poses significant threats to the environment, property and life through bushfire. The committee was pleased to see the Country Fire Service and DEH cooperating with whole-of-landscape fire management planning under way. The committee notes that the CFS is a volunteer organisation, and additional resources may be needed to ensure that native vegetation is well managed on the island in line with the new fire management plans created.

I wish to thank all those who gave their time and assistance to the committee in this inquiry. The committee heard evidence from 29 witnesses, received seven submissions and toured the region. I also commend the members of the committee for their contribution: the Chairperson, Mr John Rau MP; the Hon. Graham Gunn MP; the Hon. Sandra Kanck MLC; the Hon. Steph Key MP; the Hon. Caroline Schaefer MLC; and the Hon. Lea Stevens MP. All members of the committee have worked cooperatively throughout the course of the inquiry.

Finally, I would like to thank members of the parliamentary staff for their assistance, especially the Executive Officer, Mr Knut Cudarans, and research officers, Mr John Barker and Mr Patrick Dupont.

The Hon. SANDRA KANCK (16:00): The Natural Resources Committee has a wide brief under the Natural Resources Management Act to keep under review the extent to which the objects of that act are being achieved. The committee's oversight of the setting of NRM levies by each region was the catalyst for the committee to visit Kangaroo Island last year. Rather than look at just the issue of levies, we took the opportunity to explore many of the issues associated with natural resources management on Kangaroo Island.

The committee has indicated its satisfaction with the process undertaken by the Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board in determining its levy. Indeed, the word we have used is 'commended', and I think rightly so. Most other NRM boards stick to the minimum 21 days stipulated by the act, and not a minute more. The Kangaroo Island NRM Board allowed five weeks for submissions to be sent in and, on a percentage basis, the level of participation in the consultation process was higher than for any other board. That may at least be due in part to the relative geographic smallness of the region, but I think part of it may be the fact that they allowed time for it to occur.

There has been some discussion on the island about the possibility of that NRM board merging with another one on the mainland. I make the observation—rather than the committee—that such a merger would lose the unique advantage that Kangaroo Island holds in terms of community ownership and therefore involvement with the NRM board.

Kangaroo Island is very dependent on tourism which, in turn, is very much based on the natural environment. Tourism, in turn, places pressures on infrastructure, such as water and roads. Funding for that infrastructure is not readily available. Members of the Kangaroo Island Council lamented the fact that, whilst national parks control one-third of the island's land resource, they pay no rates. So, there is a bit of irony there: that we have the natural environment to attract the people, which puts the pressure on the infrastructure, but the natural environment that the DEH is responsible for makes no contribution to the economy.

Additionally, the council has to pay an annual $500,000 wharfage charge to the state government, which appears inequitable to them compared to people on Hindmarsh Island who have a bridge that they use for free. Pressures abound on the natural resources of Kangaroo Island, including the destruction of native vegetation, the continuing problem of koalas and the emerging problem of plantation forestry impacting on groundwater resources.

In a separate inquiry, the Natural Resources Committee has been looking at the forestry impact around the Foggy Farm catchment on the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula for about 18 months. We have developed the view that forestry needs to be declared a water-affecting activity in this state. In this report, we make the direct recommendation to the Minister for Environment and Conservation that she include commercial forestry activities on Kangaroo Island as the prescribed water-affecting activity pursuant to section 127(3)(f) of the Natural Resources Management Act 2004.

The evidence to the committee was that forestry on Kangaroo Island at this stage was not having an impact. I think the magic word is 'yet'—it is not having that impact yet. But many farmers expressed their concern to us about forestry in the longer term, involving both its water uptake and the impact on roads when trees are harvested in 15 to 20 years and ultimately transported to the mainland. That goes back to my earlier consideration of the lack of government support for infrastructure on the island.

The Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation has a document entitled 'Plantation Forestry Design Guidelines for Sustainable Water Resources Management' and the committee has recommended that DEH, DWLBC, the Kangaroo Island National Resources Management Board and the Kangaroo Island council all use these to ensure that any additional approvals for forestry should be subject to these guidelines.

I now move to a subject that I have a great interest in and something which is very dear to my heart—koalas. The Department for Environment and Heritage estimates that koala numbers on the island are presently somewhere between 22,000 and 30,000. Those sort of numbers are unsustainable. This epidemic—because that is the only way you can describe what is happening with these koalas—has put great pressure on the Cygnet River catchment, in particular. With up to 30,000 koalas, there is a significant injection of funds for sterilising them and relocating them to the South-East of the state.

We were told that, to keep their numbers under control, 70 per cent of the koalas will need to be sterilised and one-third of them translocated. The cost to do that is enormous: up to $1 million per year. I have been talking about the problem of lack of roads, for instance, and one wonders what that $1 million might do in terms of assisting the Kangaroo Island council to have decent roads.

As the committee's report states, relocation and desexing of animals is a very costly exercise when compared with alternative control measures, such as culling. I personally have a position—and it has been my party's position for quite a number of years—that the koalas on Kangaroo Island are a pest. Indeed, the committee's report lists them under exactly that heading. They are not native to the island. They are destroying the manna gums which line the creeks, and the destruction of the trees (the roots of which hold the soil together) leads to soil erosion. There are other impacts associated with the birds that nest in the trees and so on, and also the issue of soil content in the outflow of the rivers to the marine environment.

I certainly do not disagree with anything that the committee has said about koalas—I would probably have gone a little harder. The committee commented that 'it is concerned at the high cost of the present koala management program and the opportunity cost this represents to other NRM projects. The committee recognises the sensitivity of the koala control issue and understands DEH's efforts to manage koalas on the island in a politically sensitive manner. The committee intends to further examine this issue and, in particular, to better understand the impact of the December 2007 bushfires on the island's koala population. The committee believes that a sustainable solution must be found to the koala question'. In my view, that sustainable solution is the humane culling of those koalas. I do not think we should allow Japanese tourists to determine this state's environmental policies. If they start calling for boycotts then I think what we need to do is to look them straight in the eye and say one word to them—whales.

I thank my colleagues for the work that they have done on this report. I very much enjoy being on this committee. The Hon. Caroline Schaefer will know that, when it was first set up, I thought it was some form of sinecure and was quite cynical about it. However, I said that I would serve on the committee to make sure that it works—and it works. I think it is probably one of the best committees that this parliament has ever had. I thank all of my colleagues for their work on this report, and I also thank the committee staff who have done a fantastic job.

Motion carried.

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