NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE

I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation a question regarding National Parks and Wildlife. 

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: A constituent has brought to the attention of the opposition an ad which seems to appear daily in the notices in The Advertiser. Entitled Native Animals for Sale, it states the following:

As from 1st July 1999 any persons advertising native animals listed as basic or specialist species for sale is required to include the permit number in the advertisement. 

National Parks and Wildlife SA 

Phone (08) 8124 403 

These ads seem to appear not only daily but twice on the same page, listed under both 'Birds' and the 'Pets General' sections. My questions to the minister are:

1.Are these notices being placed daily in The Advertiser?

2.Can the minister advise the cost of placing these ads?

3.Are these placed in other print media or electronic media? If so, what are those costs?

4.Does the minister believe this is an effective use of taxpayer funding?

5.Will the minister consider whether there is an alternative means of communication, such as through the relevant persons who are involved in native animals for sale, whom I am sure his department has registered?
 
The Hon. I.K. HUNTER  (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change)  ( 14:46 :57 ): I thank the honourable member for her most important question about the placement of advertisements in the print media. I hope she is not suggesting that we should abandon print media altogether and move to some godforsaken new technology that vast numbers of us would not be able to access even if we tried. However, I think the intent behind her question is to find out whether we are providing the most effective communication methods possible, and I am all for supporting broadening out our abilities to communicate about the act, in particular.

I will have to look at the wording of the act to determine whether it actually mandates print media, as some of the old acts have done, as opposed to some of the newer acts which we have legislated in this place which are more general in their approach to communicating with stakeholders. I will take the question on notice and bring back a response for the honourable member.

2 December 2015

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER  (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) received this advice:

1. Notices are placed in the Advertiser on a daily basis.

2. Since 1999, the Advertiser has provided this service at no cost.

3. The advertisements only appear in the Advertiser.

4. This is a free service provided by the Advertiser.

5. The Advertiser has been publishing these notices since 1999 as a means to educate the community about the appropriateness of fauna sales. It is unlikely that alternative sources will be as effective because the service captures a large audience and is provided at no cost to the taxpayer."