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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-13 Daily Xml
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NATURE PLAY SA

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister inform the council about the recent announcement of nature play SA, a not-for-profit organisation aimed at getting South Australian children playing in, and engaging with, the outdoors?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:56): I thank the honourable member for his outstanding question. I was hoping that someone would ask me that question this week. I am very pleased—I just have some information at hand—to answer such a question. It is, of course, an unfortunate truth that today Australian children spend less time outdoors in nature on average than at any other time in our history. Indeed, it has been noted that the average Australian child spends less time outside per day than a maximum security prisoner.

Children in South Australia spend an average minimum of 4.5 hours a day in front of a screen. Of course, over the last few decades we have also seen increasing rates of obesity amongst children. One in every four children aged five to 17 is overweight or obese, I am advised. This government has taken action already to address these issues. Rates of childhood obesity are starting to stabilise, but more can and should be done.

In response to this increasingly indoors-based lifestyle our children are experiencing, the South Australian government will establish a new non-government organisation called nature play South Australia. Announced by the Premier just last weekend, this new body will be based on the highly successful Western Australian model, Nature Play WA. Nature play SA will increase the time South Australian children spend in unstructured play outdoors and in nature and, like Nature Play WA, it is founded on the understanding that unstructured play outdoors, or nature play, is fundamental to a full and healthy childhood.

Most members of the chamber, I am sure, particularly those from regional areas of our state, will have quite fond memories of playing and engaging with the environment outside, riding bikes and climbing trees, skimming stones across water and camping under the stars, some of the activities that will be promoted by nature play.

The body will be established under the Associations Incorporation Act 1985, and targeted organisations from the health, education, environment and recreation sectors will be invited to become founding members. The state government will provide seed funding of $500,000 per annum from 2014 to 2017 to assist the establishment of nature play South Australia. Nature play SA will then transition to independent funding beyond those years.

An across government partnership has already been established to support the nature play initiative and early formative programs of the body are in the pipeline. For example, a nature play SA passport to an amazing childhood will be created, a document that sets age-appropriate missions for young people to complete, such as climbing a tree or visiting a national park. It is expected that at some stage this will be integrated online so that they can share their achievements with their friends, as they currently do, I understand, with things called PlayStations. Also, they may be able to take on board active information put to them about what sort of tree they might be climbing, for example, or what animals exist in the environment they are currently in. So, this online aspect will provide a one-stop nature play website where children, parents and teachers can get information about what to do and where they can go.

In support of this particular initiative, I am also pleased to advise that the state government will be including one free family pass to one of our 13 iconic South Australian parks in 2014-15 for families to use as part of that nature play experience. This announcement is part of the government's healthy and strong children policy, which also included an investment of $439,000 to double the number of schools participating in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. That program gets students out into a productive veggie garden and a home style kitchen as part of their everyday schooling, learning how to grow and cook fruits and vegetables. This sets good examples for students, which influences and forms them for the rest of their lives and is designed to be intriguing and fun, unlike it was for me when I was told to get out into the garden and do some weeding after school.

This announcement is the most recent in a series of government policy announcements which have taken place over the past two months. These announcements set out this Labor government's vision to build a stronger South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Mr Ridgway talks about Liberal Party concrete actions again. The only concrete action they are interested in is pouring concrete boots around the feet of their leaders as they throw them off the Glenelg pier. But sleeping with the fishes is what Liberal leaders end up doing eventually in the Liberal Party of South Australia.

These announcements set out this Labor government's vision to build a stronger South Australia. These announcements continue this government's commitment to policy founded on a solid evidentiary basis. These announcements are about supporting South Australians to create a stronger state for the benefit of all South Australians, not just a few.

Let us compare that to those opposite who continue to refuse to come clean to the people of South Australia about their plans for this state. When they have made policy announcements they have been superficial, filled with empty motherhood statements, no substance, no evidentiary basis, no evidence whatsoever to back them up. Like their federal colleagues, the Liberals opposite are seeking to fly under the radar in South Australia and hide behind a flimsy action plan which is neither action nor plan.

We are forced then to look at what they do, not what they say. Look at their actions. When last in government those opposite did not care about our children's development. In fact, our colleague the Hon. Mr Rob Lucas, I think I said in this place the other day that he closed 45 or 55 schools. I must correct the record, because when I looked at it he actually closed 67 schools, when you take into account those that were closed through the amalgamation process. This is what the Liberals stand for: closing down crucial public services, closing schools. These are the people who stand behind the new Leader of the Opposition Mr Marshall, who no-one knows anything about. No-one knows anything about their plans, except—

The Hon. G.E. Gago interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Exactly right; they are out there on YouTube explaining their policies, which are nothing like policies and there is certainly nothing to back them up. As we all know, if those opposite win government next year (in March) there will be 25,000 fewer Public Service members delivering essential services to those who most need them and a $50 million payroll tax cut to their mates in big business. That is what is going to happen. They are going to sack 25,000 public servants who provide crucial services to the people of South Australia and give a $50 million payroll tax handout to the big end of town—big business, not small business, big business. That is their plan.

They take their lead in this issue from the federal Liberal government, who just recently said, 'We are going to give a huge win to the top end of town, those people earning more than $2 million and their superannuation. We will take the tax off them. By the way, we're not going to give those people earning less than $37,000 a year the tax break the Labor government promised,' they are going to take that away from the low income earners and will reward the rich. That is what this mob will do. That is what this mob will do in the future: sack public servants, close down more schools; just like the Hon. Mr Lucas has done in the past, that is what they will do again.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: You'll blow a valve going on like that.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: And I haven't finished yet.

The PRESIDENT: You've got a supplementary to your own answer.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: This Labor government has a vision to build a stronger South Australia, and I am proud to be involved in the creation of nature play SA. I have no doubt that nature play will go some way in making going out to play in nature an every day part of childhood again. When the South Australian people throw this mob out and they lose their seats they will be out playing in nature for a long time to come.

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