TROY BELL MP
Member for Mount Gambier
Your Independent voice
in State Parliament
Talks reach Minister
Tuesday June 20, 2023Deputy Premier and Environment Minister Dr Susan Close may make her first official visit to Millicent in seven years next month at a public forum about the future management of South East coastal lakes such as Lake George and Lake Bonney.
Dr Close was responding to a query posed in the House of Assembly last week by Independent MP Troy Bell whose Mount Gambier electorate takes in the southern portion of Lake Bonney.
Mr Bell asked Dr Close if she had received correspondence from Conservation and Hunting Alliance of South Australia inviting her and her Department for Environment and Water to a public forum being held in Millicent on July 14.
He said the meeting was in response to concerns in the community about the South East Coastal Lakes Review and the proposal by the Department for Environment and Water to proclaim these lakes under the National Parks Act.
“I am not yet sure whether I will be free for July 14, but I am having a look at that,” Dr Close said.
“Just to give some context for why CHASA might be getting in touch, when the previous minister (Liberal David Spiers) was in charge there was a decision taken to have a look at all of those coastal, lake and landholdings down in the area to see whether the right tenure of land was over each one of them.
“So that work was well under way when I came into government.
“That work had some targeted consultation initially and then through that process has come up – and particularly some work with First Nations.
“The first briefing I had was very much about First Nations engagement and the importance of getting that right.
“Now the Department for Environment and Water have come up with a proposition about how they think the land allocation should work and, indeed, some parts of land are proposed to go into the national park system.
“That has come to me simply to say they are going out for public consultation now.”
Dr Close said there has been no State Government decision taken as yet.
“It seemed to me entirely reasonable that something that started under the previous government and continued under ours, being led by the experts in the department, ought to go out for public consultation,” she said.
“I appreciate there are some concerns being raised by CHASA on the basis they are concerned that that might constrain some of the access to hunting habitat, but it seems to me it is best to let the process go and allow that public consultation to occur.
“I have no particular objection to attending, but if I am not able to attend there will be, I am sure, departmental people there.
“I will also be very pleased to hear how the discussion went and what the proposition has been from the community, and then once all of that is consolidated, we will make some decisions.
“As members might be aware, if we do add to the park system that requires coming through parliament, so there will be plenty of opportunity for people to express their views.”