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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-09-11 Daily Xml
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MARINE PARKS

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:43): Will the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation inform the chamber about the positive impacts of the state and federal marine parks?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. The establishment of the marine parks program is one of the most significant and important conservation programs ever undertaken in our state. I am sure members will be aware that after a decade of planning, in November last year the government finalised management plans for our state's 19 marine parks.

South Australia's network of 19 marine parks covers around 44 per cent of the state's waters, approximately 26,670 square kilometres in total, I am advised. Each marine park is zoned to provide for both conservation and ongoing community and industrial commercial use. Marine parks were developed after extensive consultation with local communities and stakeholders. They have been designed to provide protection for some of South Australia's most iconic and ecologically important areas.

During the final round of consultation last year, more than 8,600 submissions were received, with the overwhelming majority of submissions received during the public consultation period confirming support for the introduction of marine parks with sanctuary zones. Responding to the advice received from the community and stakeholder groups and others during the consultation process, the government made more than 50 amendments to the marine park management plans, I am advised. The changes ensure that we will still achieve excellent conservation outcomes whilst further reducing the impact on users of the marine environment such as commercial and recreational fishers.

Marine parks are zoned for multiple uses, meaning that people can still enjoy their favourite pastimes be it swimming, diving, boating or fishing. We have ensured that recreational fishing will be largely unaffected by the introduction of marine parks. Fishing from jetties and breakwaters and popular beaches will not be impacted and, as a result of this, around 6 per cent of state waters, approximately 3,623 square kilometres in total, have been assigned to the highest levels of protection as sanctuary zones or restricted access zones. This leaves the vast majority of the state's waters, approximately 94 per cent, available for fishing and other resource uses.

There has been much debate about marine parks in recent years in this chamber and in the community and, interestingly, I am sure most members are aware that it was a former Liberal government that commenced the marine parks process in 2001 when they released their vision for marine protected areas. Credit to where it is due, we commend them on that work and we were very pleased to build on it. However, that vision proposed by the Liberal government proposed zoning for multiple uses and that is what we adopted.

That vision also proposed no-take areas, and that is also what we adopted. That vision recognised that some displacement of existing activities would be unavoidable, of course. They also proposed to involve the community and key stakeholders in the planning processes, just as we have done every step of the way. But sadly, 10 years later, they appear to have lost their vision, the vision they had at the outset. Certainly that is true of the federal Liberal government, given what we are hearing about the suspension of marine parks announced by the incoming federal government.

In September last year the Liberals here, I understand, released a so-called marine parks policy which did nothing more than indicate that they want to take the state backwards once again. They want to ignore 10 years of planning with local communities, they want to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence from all around the world that our oceans are under threat. Our coastal waters absolutely need greater protection, and that is why it is also so very sad to see that at the federal level the Liberal Party has also lost that vision, as I said.

Prime Minister-elect Abbott has come out and said that he will suspend the commonwealth management plans for marine protected areas while he conducts a review. We can only hope it will be a proper review and not some political hatchet job, as many people suspect. The commonwealth government proclaimed the world's biggest network of marine reserves protecting more than 2.3 million square kilometres of ocean environment on 16 November 2012. This is a Labor government doing the work it does best—visionary, nation-changing reforms that protect us into the future.

That network of parks was created to protect habitat necessary to support many of the world's threatened and endangered animals, including green turtles, blue whales, southern right whales, Australian sea lions and whale sharks.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: It is so terribly disappointing to hear that the Liberals seek to disallow the management plans for the world's largest network of marine parks, and the Hon. Mr Ridgway is once again misleading the people of South Australia. He has no clue, even though I set him straight, he still has no clue. He really does need to pick up his work rate.

The new commonwealth marine reserves were only established after an unprecedented consultation process. There were five rounds of consultation on marine reserves over the past four years, including more than 250 public and stakeholder meetings around the country attended by over 2,000 people, I am advised. I understand that more than 750,000 people participated in the public consultation process and provided feedback.

The federal government used the best available science, talked to the public over a number of years, made and revised plans based on community consultation and delivered the world's most comprehensive marine reserve network with only about a 1 per cent impact on commercial fisheries. But this just shows that the Liberal Party does not understand or care for science or public consultation. They do not care for decisions based on the science and public consultation and they do not care what is right for conservation.

There is a greater variety of marine life in southern Australian waters than at the Great Barrier Reef, and the state government recognises the importance of protecting and preserving these habitats for future generations.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The honourable member entices me to go into discussing what the federal Liberal incoming government will do to the Great Barrier Reef—another horror story that awaits us—but I will not be distracted at this point in time. I have another few pages for any supplementary questions about that the honourable member might like to raise.

This is the important point that is lost in this issue. Many of the marine plants and animals living in these waters cannot be found anywhere else on the planet, but my colleagues across the chamber no longer think that these are worth protecting. It is a sad, sad day for our state when that is the level of policy debate we see from the Liberal Party—people who purport to be an alternative government. Nevertheless, this government recognises the importance of providing greater protection for the marine environment. We are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of our state and all the industries that rely on healthy marine environments.

We expect the marine parks will bring many economic benefits to the state. Marine parks are not the doom and gloom that members opposite like to portray out in the community. I look forward to continuing to work with the local communities and all stakeholders in the rollout of our marine parks well into the future, and I look forward very much, on this side of the chamber, to our efforts of protecting the environment of South Australia, even if we have no support from the Liberal opposition, which purports to be the alternative government in this place.

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