Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday 4 May I had the great privilege of representing the Deputy Prime Minister at the opening of stage 2 of the Pinnaroo Wetlands. Pinnaroo is in the heart of the Southern Mallee, and as the member for Barker I know and appreciate the great productivity and agricultural outputs of the Southern Mallee and the value of these outputs to the South Australian and national economy. The Pinnaroo Wetlands project is a wonderful reflection of these same attributes. This project reflects the courage, vision and leadership of rural and regional Australians and is an ideal example of what makes Australia great. The resilience of the residents of the Southern Mallee is demonstrated every day as they pursue their dryland farming and horticultural endeavours in the driest state of the world's driest continent. The drive, energy and vision of Friends of the Pinnaroo Wetlands to volunteer their personal time to conceive this opportunity and to engage and work with other groups and organisations to bring this project to life is a credit to all involved.

The Australian government, through Regional Development Australia, was pleased to have contributed $110,000 to facilitate the building of the capital works required to bring stage 2 to life. I know that the Southern Mallee community values and appreciates this generous contribution. I offer my personal congratulations to those involved, particularly Friends of the Pinnaroo Wetlands, without whom this magnificent project would never have come to fruition.