Environment, Water and Natural Resources Department

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:08): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation a question about job cuts in the environment department.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: Employees of the Conservation and Land Management Branch of the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources are currently facing a restructuring that will see a large number of them lose their jobs. There are currently 131 full-time equivalent positions in the Conservation and Land Management Branch and this is set to be cut to just 64 positions, not including a small number of external or short-term funded project positions.

One area to be hardest hit is the native vegetation management unit, which I understand is to be cut from around 28 positions to just eight. From next month, the work currently undertaken by this unit will either cease altogether or be transferred to existing regional staff, who will be expected to add these responsibilities to their existing workloads.

This means that qualified specialist staff will be replaced by general regional staff to undertake assessment of vegetation clearance applications, development applications, fire management and, increasingly, federal environment approvals under the EPBC Act. They will also be responsible for monitoring compliance and enforcement of a wide range of environmental laws. The staff set to lose their jobs are either taking packages or are competing with their colleagues for the shrinking number of positions available.

The most recent State of the Environment report for South Australia says that 'despite our best efforts biodiversity in South Australia continues to decline'. Fifty-five percent of the state's mammals are threatened or presumed extinct, 34 per cent of our birds, 30 per cent for amphibians, 23 per cent for reptiles and 14 per cent for plants. I also note that the proportion of the state budget going to the environment is only 2.24 per cent and that this figure has been dropping every year for the last seven years. My questions to the minister are:

1. Does the minister accept that the protection—

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Parnell, just a moment. Excuse me, cameraman. You are supposed to have the camera only on the person speaking, thank you.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: My questions to the minister are:

1. Does the minister accept that the protection and enhancement of native vegetation on both public and private land is a key factor in preventing species extinction?

2. How many more South Australian species are likely to become endangered or extinct as a result of the government's continuing cuts to the environment department and environment programs?

3. When will the government realise that looking after the environment is a key responsibility of government and fund it accordingly?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions. This Labor government has been the best friend to the environment that this state has ever seen. We have no intention of ignoring our responsibility to the environment but the environment portfolio, just like every other portfolio, has had to find savings due to economic challenges the state has faced through decreasing revenues and slashing by the federal Liberal government. You will see very soon our response to what the federal Liberal government is doing in terms of environmental vandalism in this state, but the honourable member is quite right, DEWNR is identifying a number of possible saving measures. These are currently being carefully evaluated to weigh their savings potential against their consequences, so this is a responsible process to help ensure the department takes a responsible and diligent approach to the allocation of its very valuable resources.