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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-05 Daily Xml
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ARKAROOLA PROTECTION AREA

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation regarding consultation under the Arkaroola Protection Act.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: Section 8 of the Arkaroola Protection Act states:

(1) The Minister must, as soon as practicable after the commencement of this section, develop a management plan for the Arkaroola Protection Area.

The minister must, before commencing to develop or alter a management plan under the act, undertake consultation with persons or bodies who hold interests in the Arkaroola Protection Area, in such manner as the minister thinks fit. Members will recall that in this chamber we broadened the range of people who should be consulted before the management plan for the Arkaroola Protection Area is finalised.

The Greens' amendment, which was supported by this chamber, provides that along with the following list of five stakeholders—namely, native title holders, owners of land, lessees of leasehold land, holders of tenements in relation to land or custodians of land—the minister should also consult with any other Aboriginal persons or organisations whom the minister believes have a particular interest in the Arkaroola area.

The decision as to which, if any, additional Aboriginal people or groups to consult rests with the minister. The act does not name any particular persons or groups, but one group that I do know wishes to be consulted in relation to the management plan is the Anggumathanha (Camp Law) Adnyamathanha Elders. My questions are:

1. Who has the minister consulted so far over the management plan for the Arkaroola Protection Area?

2. Does the minister intend to consult with the Anggumathanha (Camp Law) Adnyamathanha Elders? If not, why not?

3. When does the minister believe that the management plan for the Arkaroola Protection Area will be complete?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:25): I thank the honourable member for this most important question. I understand that the Arkaroola Protection Bill was brought into operation on 26 April 2012, and Arkaroola was entered on the South Australian Heritage List on 27 July 2012. The government submitted its national heritage listing nomination for Arkaroola to the commonwealth government in February 2012; however, assessments of any new nominations for national heritage listing were deferred by the commonwealth until 2013.

The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources commenced preparing a management plan for the Arkaroola Protection Area in consultation with the owners of the land. Of course, I will take advice from my department on who should be included in that consultation process, and I have no doubt that my department will read this Hansard very closely and take on notice the suggestions made by the honourable member in this regard. However, I will be acting not on his advice but on the advice of my department.

The Hon. T.A. Franks: What arrogance!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, I don't think so.

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