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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-14 Daily Xml
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Ediacara Conservation Park

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (11:42): I seek leave to move the motion in an amended form.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I move:

That this house requests Her Excellency the Governor to make a proclamation under section 30(2)(a) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 to abolish Ediacara Conservation Park.

The purpose of abolishing Ediacara Conservation Park is to allow for the land to be proclaimed as an addition to Nilpena Ediacara National Park. Under sections 30(2)(a) and 30(3) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, abolition of a conservation park will require a resolution of both houses of parliament and a subsequent proclamation by the Governor.

The notice of motion to abolish Ediacara Conservation Park has been tabled for the requisite 14 days pursuant to section 30(4) of the act. Subject to the resolution of this house, the members of the house will request that Her Excellency the Governor abolish the Ediacara Conservation Park pursuant to section 30(2)(a) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, and contemporaneously proclaim the land as an addition to the Nilpena Ediacara National Park pursuant to section 28(2)(b) of the National Parks and Wildlife Act.

The Ediacara Conservation Park adjoins the northern boundary of Nilpena Ediacara National Park and comprises approximately 4,767 hectares. It was first proclaimed in 2007 to protect a unique and well-preserved assemblage of fossilised Ediacaran soft body marine organisms of international importance. It also holds places of cultural significance to the Adnyamathanha people.

The park is the first location where Ediacaran fossils were discovered by Reg Sprigg in 1946. The discovery gave a new understanding of the early evolution of complex life on earth and warranted the first new geological time period to be declared in 120 years, the Ediacaran period. The term Ediacara was derived from the name of the hills where Reg Sprigg found those first fossils, and is now applied globally to fossils of the same period.

Nilpena Ediacara National Park was recently proclaimed to protect the nearby fossil fields on Nilpena Station, recognised as arguably the greatest site in the world for Ediacaran fossils. The sheer diversity of species, the number of specimens and the outstanding state of preservation enable complex ecology and climatic events to be understood.

Research is ongoing at Nilpena, with significant ongoing discoveries from the University of California, Riverside, and ongoing research by the South Australian Museum. It is the location from which many species have been discovered and named. It is the focus of research funded by NASA into alternative earths. It has been extensively published and has been visited by many distinguished people, including Sir David Attenborough.

The proposed change in status of Ediacara Conservation Park will ensure the entirety of the fossil fields are conserved within Nilpena Ediacara National Park, reflecting the national and international significance of its fossil heritage values and ensuring consistency of management across the sites.

The fossil sites contained within Nilpena Ediacara National Park will form a core element of the Flinders Ranges World Heritage nomination currently being progressed by the South Australian government. The land also contains important biodiversity values, including two state threatened ecosystems, river red gum woodland on levees and banks of drainage lines, and Acacia aneura complex low open woodland. The habitat is suitable for rare flora, such as the endangered Slender Bell-fruit. Populations of the rare elegant parrot have also been recorded in the area.

The national and international significance of the wildlife and natural features of the land justify its reclassification to a national park under the definition set out in the act. The incorporation of the land currently comprising Ediacara Conservation Park into Nilpena Ediacara National Park will bring the total size of the new national park to approximately 64,617 hectares.

The land is located within the Adnyamathanha number one consent determination area. Notification of the proposed reclassification of Ediacara Conservation Park was provided pursuant to the Adnyamathanha Settlement Indigenous Land Use Agreement. The Adnyamathanha people, through the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park Co-management Board, hold an advisory role over the Ediacara Conservation Park, and this advisory role will be extended to cover the entirety of Nilpena Ediacara National Park. With those words, I indicate that I would like to leave my comments there.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.E. Hanson.

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