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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-31 Daily Xml
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Dog Fence

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Would the minister update the chamber about her recent visit to inspect the dog fence in the state's Far North?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for his question, and I note his ongoing interest in a number of industries around the area. He is a frequent visitor to Port Augusta, and I know he has established a number of excellent relationships with various stakeholders in that area and I'm sure that, in part, feeds into his interest in the dog fence.

The South Australian dog fence is a key asset that protects the state's $4.3 billion livestock industry by stopping wild dogs and other predators from migrating into land used for sheep production. Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a section of this vast and large fence to look at some of the work that has occurred on this key asset and also, very usefully, to talk with some members of the Dog Fence board. I have met with a number of them previously. A number of them were camping out for, I think, five days as part of their program and then they were having a board meeting at the end of the trip.

The trip was timely, given that I was pleased to recently announce with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Senator Murray Watt, that the rebuild is receiving a $2.67 million funding boost through new disaster support as a result of the recent flooding that occurred to parts of the fence. The funding, jointly funded by the commonwealth and state governments, will help with the continuation of flood repairs on the fence along the Eyre Peninsula section.

The dog fence in South Australia stretches an incredible distance, from the Great Australian Bight in the west, across the state to the New South Wales border in the east. In total, that distance is 2,150 kilometres. To put into perspective just what that means, it would be quicker to walk from Adelaide to Brisbane than to walk the total length of the dog fence here in South Australia.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: That's remarkable.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: That is remarkable, as the Hon. Mr Maher mentions. I will just repeat that because it is quite remarkable: it would be quicker to walk from Adelaide to Brisbane than to walk the total length of the South Australian portion of the dog fence.

An incredible amount of work has gone into rebuilding this fence, with portions of the fence prior to the rebuild being over 100 years old. That was particularly interesting to see on the visit there last week. We could see the newest parts of the fence. We could see some of the areas that had been rebuilt previously and had various fixes and patches and also some parts of the fence that were over 100 years old—over 100 years old. A lot of those were constructed with timber from the local native pine.

It is quite remarkable, as the honourable leader in this place is agreeing with me. Seeing some of those pieces of wood that had been taken from local trees over 100 years ago still standing and supporting some parts of the old fence was quite amazing and incredibly good to see. Many parts of the fence, of course, had aged and were, obviously, susceptible to damage by kangaroos, feral camels, emus and wild dogs, along with weather events, such as flooding and sand erosion.

One of the other key challenges with the rebuild is simply the terrain and the remoteness of the area. Obviously, that presents challenges in getting supplies to each part of the fence and also the labour to undertake the work. One of the members of the dog fence explained that, when it was originally built, of course, people were doing it absolutely manually. Just imagine being out there, in an incredibly remote area—it's an incredibly remote area—and building this fence metre by metre using just the tools that were available over a century ago.

So far, over 770 kilometres has been rebuilt and further work on more than 200 kilometres is set to commence shortly. Completion of the complete rebuild that is being funded is expected to occur by June 2025. Last week, I was fortunate to visit the Roxby Downs Station section as well as the Stuarts Creek, Billa Kalina and Parakylia sections of the fence and to inspect some of the new fencing that has recently been installed over the last few months. I was joined on this trip by hardworking Dog Fence Board members: Geoff Power, who is chair and has been an absolute stalwart of the Dog Fence Board for many years, and Christobel Treloar, Peter Whittlesea and Peter Lawrie.

I would also like to thank Craig Trowbridge and Peter Litchfield, chairs of their local dog fence boards, and Dog Fence Rebuild Committee members along with PIRSA staff Brad Page, Lindell Andrews, Geoff Thomas, Marty Bower and Ash Rees. Ash has a unique role in the dog fence rebuild, which I think is particularly worthy of mention. Every few weeks, Ash drives up from Adelaide and inspects a large section of the dog fence by driving the length of the fence to ensure there is no damage. That is a visual assessment. If there is a hole in the fence or other damages that need urgent repair, he may undertake the repair work on site.

He usually spends up to 10 days alone driving along the dog fence at any given time, undertaking these inspections. A large amount of work has gone into and continues to go into this project to ensure it is completed and continues its role in helping to protect our $4.3 billion livestock industry. I want to thank everyone involved in this project. I am also pleased to report that during our trip out there, we did not see a single feral dog on either side of the fence. I look forward to being able to provide further updates to what is a really important project. The works continue. This is incredibly important to our remote areas.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, I know that it is a very important subject, but we usually like to keep our answers to about four to five minutes.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Sorry, Mr President. I was very passionate about this remarkable project.

The PRESIDENT: I understand why you would be.

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