Parliament takes important step towards the full protection of wetlands

Media Release
9 February 2004

The Wilderness Society today welcomed the state government's introduction of a motion in Parliament to allow the creation of a new National Park in one of SA's most important natural areas— the Coongie Lakes National Park in the state's far north.

The spectacular Coongie Lakes wetlands are acknowledged as being internationally significant. Listed under the "Ramsar" Wetlands Convention, the lakes are home to tens of thousands of water birds, including over twenty rare and endangered species like the Freckled Duck, Lathams's Snipe, the Grey Falcon and the Barking Owl.

The motion in Parliament follows the Premier Mike Rann's previous announcement of plans for a national park and followed on from the historic Memorandum of Understanding between conservation groups and the joint-venture oil companies headed by Santos, which recognised the need to protect core areas of Coongie Lakes.

The Wilderness Society's campaigner, Jamnes Danenberg said

While we welcome the motion in Parliament, The Wilderness Society calls on the government to continue its forward momentum on protecting the area by developing the promised Ramsar Wetlands Management Plan.

This would include detailing how we deal with the pressing issues of cattle grazing in the highly sensitive lands bordering the new Park — areas acknowledged by oil industry as too environmentally sensitive to develop. Other issues like the continuing prospect of massive extraction of water upstream in Queensland for intensive agriculture and the overall impacts of tourism on the Lakes area, now sure to expand as word gets out about the amazing beauty and richness of the area, must also be addressed.