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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-02 Daily Xml
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Natural Resources Management Boards

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:14): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Could the minister inform the chamber about how the state's natural resources management boards are partnering with community and stakeholders to achieve great outcomes for the state?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:14): Members on this side of the house understand that you actually need to work together to achieve in this state. This is how we have achieved historically, by uniting communities together. That is exactly what we have done. We have a fantastic and growing reputation as a clean and green state that produces premium food and wine. Over the past 10 years our natural resources management model has helped to cement this reputation. The NRM model does this by engaging directly with community, traditional owners, producers and industry to identify and implement solutions to environmental and natural resource challenges.

South Australia's internationally recognised NRM model is an exemplar of a partnership approach. It uses a regional focus that is informed by local needs and experiences, and there are many examples of the NRM boards taking a partnership approach to resolve complex problems. For example, the South Australian Murray Darling Basin NRM Board is partnering with other state agencies and the University of Adelaide to protect the South Australian bee populations from potential threats, including the varroa mite.

The varroa mite is a parasitic insect that has decimated feral honey bee populations in other parts of the world and, while it has not yet been detected in Australia, it has the potential to compromise the pollination of a wide variety of agricultural crops, including almonds, apples, pears and canola. If we do not adequately prepare for this parasite, it could have severe consequences for the agricultural sector, an industry that contributes about $16 billion to the state economy.

This pilot program aims to help build South Australia's native bee populations, because they are immune to the varroa mite, I am advised. This can be achieved through effective native revegetation adjacent to important pollination crops to encourage native bees to congregate in those areas. This project is a great example of how NRM researchers and agricultural producers can work together to achieve a positive outcome for their industries and their communities.

A further example of outstanding partnerships is the Bite Back program, led by the South Australian Arid Lands NRM Board. Wild dogs, including dingoes, have increased significantly in recent years, threatening the state's sheep industry, and this program has been particularly successful because it encourages land managers to collaborate with their neighbours, to undertake coordinated wild dog control across a very large area.

The SAAL NRM board is working closely with Livestock SA and the sheep industry to deliver additional on-ground assistance to manage wild dog impacts. This is through $300,000 in state and federal government drought assistance funding and a further $100,000 from the SAAL Board's regional NRM levy.

New measures to benefit the livestock industry include initiatives such as funding a second Bite Back officer working one on one with landholders, additional bait supply services inside and outside the dog fence, support for travel costs for specialist shooters to drought-affected properties, engaging a professional regional dog trapper, and training land managers in trapping techniques. I understand the trapper has already removed around 50 problem wild dogs from inside the dog fence.

Many of these initiatives have arisen as a result of improvement in communication and coordination following the establishment of the South Australian Wild Dog Advisory Group. Innovative and collaborative solutions to feral cat management are also underway on Kangaroo Island. Feral cats have had a considerable impact on the island, including predation on over 50 native animal species and the spread of livestock diseases that impact production and profitability.

The Kangaroo Island feral cat eradication prospectus, launched in July of this year, outlines the phased program, with the long-term goal of eradicating feral cats on the island by 2030. This bold project is a joint initiative between the Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board, the Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources and the Kangaroo Island Council, in collaboration with Primary Industries and Regions SA.

Finally, we have had some fantastic outcomes as a result of the NRM partnership regarding environmental water, which is essential to maintaining a healthy river system that supports the river's vital ecosystems. Since environmental watering began in 2008, a successful partnership has flourished between the SAMDB NRM Board, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, wetland managers, landholders and the non-government sector, and each year DEWNR puts together an annual plan that coordinates and prioritises the delivery of environmental water to South Australia, consistent with the Murray Darling Basin Authority Basin Plan.

The SAMDB NRM board plays a fundamental role in the process by collaborating with land managers in the delivery of environmental water to priority wetlands along the River Murray. Since 2008 the region has successfully delivered over 26.5 gigalitres of environmental water to 50 priority wetland sites located from the SA border to wetlands fringing the Lower Lakes. We have already seen positive results, including high numbers of the nationally threatened Murray hardyhead fish and the southern bell frog, as well as improvements to river red gum and black box tree conditions.

I should probably relate recent advice that I received about a great success program that has lasted over 20 years in collaboration with local communities on Kangaroo Island and that is the glossy black cockatoo. That population was reduced, I think, to about 200 remaining on KI. There are populations in the Eastern States but I understand the only extant population in our state is on KI and, as I said, it got down to 200.

Together with the federal government and a long rehabilitation plan involving local community members' annual reports, we sent people across to the island and they found out and they looked for these black cockatoos and they did a little census of them. My understanding is that over the last two years, the population has stabilised at around 350 cockatoos.

They are not incredibly prolific breeders; they only have one chick a year, I understand, and the chick is very vulnerable to predation by possums, and so our volunteers and DEWNR on KI and the NRM board all collaborate to go around putting iron collars on trees that have these nesting sites so they are favoured by the glossy black cockatoos.

In addition, they also patrol them for feral bees that escape from beehives and establish themselves in the hollows that glossy black cockatoos like to nest in and eradicate those. Additionally, on top of that, we also have a dedicated troop of volunteers who go around putting up artificial hollows made out of PVC pipe, and I understand they have been particularly attractive to glossy black cockatoos and have resulted, as I said, in the population bouncing back from 200 to 350.

That is not a substantial population by any means. We are very keen to continue this program into the future. We have a very dedicated group of volunteers on the island without whom we could not do this very important work. Ideally we would like to see the population grow to a point where they extend their range back to their natural range which is up the Fleurieu Peninsula and into the Mount Lofty Ranges, but that is for a future date.

The stabilisation of the population is at 350 or thereabouts. I think it has gone down by five from last year but, given the difficulties of actually doing a census and counting these animals through some of the rugged terrain on Kangaroo Island, the population is probably not very different from last year. It is very successful and I want to congratulate the KI community for doing that work with us.

In order to maintain our clean and green image and to ensure our future prosperity, we have to sustainably manage our natural resources and we do that in collaboration with business, community and our residential population, who give us countless hours of volunteer work and I thank them sincerely.

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