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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-06 Daily Xml
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National Parks

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, someone else has the floor.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Now, listen.

The Hon. S.G. Wade interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I don't want to hear that. I want to hear the question from the Hon. Mr Gazzola.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: It is misleading the house.

The PRESIDENT: So allow Mr Gazzola to ask his question, please.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: That is a very serious accusation.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: It is a very serious matter, misleading the house, very serious.

The PRESIDENT: Alright, well, you haven't got the floor.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Minister, would you inform the chamber about the innovative ways South Australian primary school children are being encouraged to shape the future of our parks?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for his most excellent question to me. The state of South Australia is incredibly fortunate to have such a beautiful and unspoilt natural array of landscapes. We can boast more than 300 parks, covering close to 20 per cent of our state, and 10 per cent of our parks are located within or adjacent to the metropolitan area and are easily accessible to our residents.

The South Australian government wants more people to visit, enjoy and learn to love our beautiful open spaces, and this is why we have made a commitment to invest $10.4 million over four years to upgrade and improve the facilities in our parks in the northern and southern suburbs. We are consulting widely with focus groups and local communities, offering an online survey for people to make suggestions.

We have also come up with a great way to get South Australian primary school children involved. We are running a competition for upper primary school children to use the video game Minecraft to design their perfect national park. Minecraft is a game, I am advised, that allows players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a pixelated three-dimensional world. I am not sure whether it can be used on iPhones but I am sure someone will—

The Hon. T.A. Franks: It certainly can. I have it.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Echoes across the chamber from a number of knowledgeable people that, indeed, you can. Well done. I am told that it's going to encourage creativity and lets users share their designs and explore those of other players.

The Hon. K.L. Vincent interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Ms Vincent is intimately involved in Minecraft? I stand to be advised by those more knowledgeable than me, as always. Perhaps the Hon. Ms Vincent and the Hon. Tammy Franks might care to show me how it is played later on.

The Hon. T.A. Franks interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I am told the game encourages creativity and lets users share their designs and explore those of other players. The competition is open to students in years 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the Adelaide Hills and metropolitan schools region. Students will work together as a class, either basing their design on a real park or making one from scratch.

Students can let their imaginations run wild as they consider things they would like to do in parks, such as making interesting trails; making them more accessible for wheelchairs, for example; and including things such as campgrounds, scenic lookouts or adventure playgrounds. I am advised this seems to be already paying off in a big way. In a recent email, a parent whose child is involved in the competition at Linden Park Primary School wrote:

Such an amazing learning opportunity at many levels. Already so many great discussions re government, and national parks, community engagement, design tools, teamwork etc.

Students will also try to make sure that whatever they create on the screen can be translated into real world utilisation, because we hope that some of the ideas that students come up with online can actually be used in our parks. The winning design will be selected based on the overall skill of the design, as well as how sustainable and practical it is.

Students shouldn't forget about the enjoyment factor, because our ultimate goal is to get more families using and having fun in our parks. The competition closes on Friday 12 June, and the winner will be announced on Monday 13 July, I'm advised, and the winning class will get to enjoy a fun and informative day in Belair National Park with a ranger where they will be learning about and exploring nature.

I encourage everyone to get involved in shaping our parks for the future, of course. Information about this competition and other consultation can be found at the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board website, and this is also where people who are interested can go and see the finalist and winning entries later in the year.

This is a fantastic initiative to get young people involved in designing our parks. It has generated interest and coverage from media outlets around the country and internationally, I am told, including the United States, United Kingdom and Pakistan. I would like to wish all the students who are willing to have a go at this innovative program the best of luck, and I look forward to being shown how to utilise the features of Minecraft on someone else's mobile phone.

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