NATIONAL PARKS —
EXPANSION
287. Hon ROBIN SCOTT to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to question without notice
283, answered by the minister on Tuesday, 2 April 2019.
(1) Will the
minister advise the anticipated cost of the expansion of national parks by five
million hectares for each of the next five financial years?
(2) What plans
have been made by the government to provide road access and facilities for
tourists in the additional five million hectares, and will the minister table
those plans even if they are incomplete?
(3) What is the
estimated number of Aboriginal rangers who will be employed in on-country jobs
on the additional five million hectares?
(4) Will the
minister table a list of the ''extremely high � social values''
of the banded iron formation referred to in his answer to question without
notice 283?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(3) The
Plan for Our Parks is being prepared through a process of consultation with
affected stakeholders including traditional owners, the resources sector,
commercial and recreational fishers, conservation groups, local governments and
other key stakeholders and interest holders. Once the consultation is complete,
a refined Plan for Our Parks will be prepared that will consider cost, access,
tourism and Aboriginal employment.
(4) As I stated
yesterday, the Helena and Aurora Ranges have extremely high environmental and
social values. It is a key landscape feature in this region due to an
aggregation of important values including the distinct physical feature that
the range represents, scenery and wilderness values. There is a high
concentration of Aboriginal heritage values on the range and surrounding
plains, and the range is also a growing remote tourism destination.