Hansard 2 October 1991

Legislative Assembly 1041 2 October 1991 NOTE: There could be differences between this document and the official printed Hansard, Vol. 319 WEDNESDAY, 2 OCTOBER 1991 Mr SPEAKER (Hon. J. Fouras, Ashgrove) read prayers and took the chair at 2.30 p.m. CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE Report Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have to inform the House that today I received from the Chairman of the Criminal Justice Commission the report entitled Regulating Morality?—An Inquiry into Prostitution in Queensland. Ordered to be printed. PETITION The Acting Clerk announced the receipt of the following petition— Child-care Centres From Mr Hollis (94 signatories) praying that any proposed changes relating to child-care centres be preceded by a Green Paper and a six-month commentary period before any legislation. Petition received. PAPERS The following papers were laid on the table— Orders in Council under— Workplace Health and Safety Act 1989 Workers’ Compensation Act 1990 Canals Act 1958-1990 Fauna Conservation Act 1974 Land Act 1962 National Parks and Wildlife Act 1975 Newstead House Trust Act 1939 Regulations under— Workplace Health and Safety Act 1989 Marine Parks Act 1982 Proclamations under— University of Southern Queensland Act 1989 University of Central Queensland Act 1989 National Parks and Wildlife Act 1975 Rules under the Education (Senior Secondary School Studies) Act 1988 Statute under the Queensland University of Technology Act 1988. Legislative Assembly 1042 2 October 1991 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT South East Queensland Passenger Transport Study Hon. D. J. HAMILL (Ipswich—Minister for Transport and Minister Assisting the Premier on Economic and Trade Development) (2.31 p.m.), by leave: The South East Queensland Passenger Transport Study is now complete after 21 months of extensive research and consultation. It is the most thorough public transport study ever conducted in Queensland. The SEPTS report includes five volumes: the report itself, a summary, appendices one and two, and a critique by a group of eminent professionals. I am sure that honourable members, particularly those representing electorates in the south-east region, will find it very useful and interesting reading. But the south east is not the only region of the State which has transport problems. The Goss Government has clearly demonstrated—in this and other issues—that it is concerned for the entire State, not just one region or section. This year, passenger transport studies have been launched by my department in the Cairns-Mulgrave area and the Thuringowa-Townsville region and there are plans for detailed studies on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. This Government has already completed and implemented recommendations from a passenger transport study for Maryborough-Hervey Bay and a study has been completed in Mackay. Studies are nearing completion at Rockhampton, Gladstone and Caboolture. The SEPTS report contains 49 recommendations, some of which have already been implemented or are in the process of implementation, and others will require much more examination and discussion. Futuristic proposals such as moving sidewalks, telecommuting and electronic road charging are certainly not going to receive a high priority and the report does not suggest that they receive a high priority. However, suggestions to overcome immediate problems such as providing public transport access for students at the Queensland University of Technology will certainly be given very close attention, as will many of the suggestions for easing the travel problems confronted by the handicapped. I reject some of the uninformed comments which have been made in some quarters that the report is too vague or that it will be quickly consigned to the backburner. The report does not answer all of the region's transport problems. But it provides a blueprint for future planning to address those issues and to help prevent future problems. The SEPTS report is now available for public comment and for Government consideration, and I am certain that its recommendations will lead to some very real and visible benefits for south-east Queensland. MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Report on Overseas Trip by Minister for Environment and Heritage Hon. P. COMBEN (Windsor—Minister for Environment and Heritage) (2.33 p.m.), by leave: My ministerial statement concerns a report on my recent overseas trip. It covers some four pages of close typing. Therefore, I seek leave to table the statement and to have its contents incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. REPORT ON THE VISIT OF THE HONOURABLE PAT COMBEN M.L.A. MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE TO HAWAII, WESTERN PROVINCES OF CANADA AND WESTERN STATES OF THE U.S.A. Wednesday, 12 June to Wednesday, 26 June, 1991 I wish to report to the House on my recent visit to Hawaii, the Western Provinces of Canada and Washington and Oregon State in the United States of America. The visit was designed to Legislative Assembly 1043 2 October 1991 provide first hand information on the management of national parks, especially those receiving high levels of visitor usage; the involvement of native peoples in the management of natural areas; the management and interpretation of World Heritage sites; the protection and presentation of fossil sites, recycling and waste minimisation initiatives and river management and coastal protection programs. I was accompanied on the trip by my wife, my Research Officer, Ms Liz Bourne, and the Acting Deputy Director-General of the Department, Mr. Tom Tolhurst. I table for the benefit of Honourable Members my itinerary for the trip and a number of technical reports, management plans and other material obtained in the course of this trip. Other material has been lodged in the library of the Department of Environment and Heritage. National park management issues were examined in Hawaii, in the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and in Washington State. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park provided an opportunity to examine how an active volcanic area was managed and interpreted. Of particular relevance was a visit to the Thurston Lava Tube which has many similarities to the Undarra Lava Tunnels in northern Queensland which are soon to be protected within a national park. Thurston Lava Tube receives a very high level of visitor usage but good interpretive signage and walking track construction have ensured that impacts have been minimised. Managing visitor impacts was also a major theme of our discussions with staff in the Rocky Mountain national parks. With annual visitation of over 5 million people, these parks are experiencing considerable pressures not yet seen in Queensland. This pressure has created management problems for the parks staff in trying to resolve the conflict between meeting visitor demands for better access and facilities and the need to ensure the ecological integrity of these areas is retained. The staffing levels and resources made available to manage these parks is considerable by Queensland standards and yet it appears it is still inadequate to address many of the needs identified by the Parks Service staff as priorities. The comparative roles of a truly parks system run by the national government versus the provincial parks system was also an interesting point of discussion with many of the park managers we met. Following the release of the Canadian Government's Green Plan in 1990, it was interesting to see the efforts being made by the Western Region of the Canadian Parks Service to implement strategies across all of their areas of operation to ensure they minimised their own environmental impacts eg. waste disposal and energy use and so provide a role model for the local community. The level of commercial activity which has been allowed to develop within Banff National Park was a sobering experience. Having an entire township within the park has caused the Parks Service additional administrative and management problems with considerable resources having to be directed towards what are essentially local authority matters. In addition, there have been growing conflicts between wildlife such as bears and elk with tourists and residents of the town, requiring a major public education program. One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Alberta. This 4 million hectare park was created to protect a vast area of boreal forest and wetlands which contained the largest remaining free ranging herd of wild wood bison in North America. Of particular interest to us was the way in which the local Parks Service officers interacted with the local Indian tribes over whose traditional lands the park had been declared. We met with members of the Cree and Chipewyan bands who were represented on the Wildlife Advisory Board for the southern part of the park following a land claim settlement with them in 1986. This Board helps manage the resources of the national park and we discussed with them issues such as their hunting and commercial trapping activities in the park and how this was regulated. The issue of allowing traditional aboriginal owners the right to hunt and gather on claimed national park lands in Queensland is a matter of considerable debate and I was therefore interested to see how the Canadians were dealing with this on their national parks. The overall impression was of a good, co-operative arrangement between the Parks Service and the native people of the region that ensured the park's conservation values were retained but at the same time allowed the Indians the opportunity to continue with their traditional hunting and trapping practices. With the increase in fur farming and the opposition to wild trapping of animals from some quarters, the economic significance of trapping to the local Legislative Assembly 1044 2 October 1991 economy is decreasing. Expanding opportunities for nature based tourism are being pursued by the Bands such as their investment in a tourist lodge at Fort Chipweyan on the southern edge of the park and guided tours through the park and its lakes system.

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