The Premier, Hon. Jay Weatherill The Minister for Environment, Water & Natural Resources, Hon.

Paul Caica Parliament House Adelaide SA 5000 10th September 2012

Dear Hon. Premier and Minister Caica,

Re: Marine Parks Stakeholders Forum

I write to you in a personal capacity and not in any official position. Following a series of recent information sessions conducted by the Department of Water, Environment and Natural Resources regarding marine parks , I have received a large number of enquiries concerning the 'stakeholder conference' that was held in April 2012. I am particularly disturbed by the assertions that is being promoted by the Department that I, as a Representative of the SA Marine Parks Alliance, 'agreed' to all of the specific zoning proposals that were discussed at that meeting. To set the record straight:

In good faith, I agreed to participate in the meeting to seek where there might be common ground between the various stakeholders and I agreed to the approach of the forum which is reflected in the statement that was issued after the completion of the forum. This agreed statement mapped out a way forward in reaching a commonly accepted outcome on marine parks. At the time, I noted that it was unusual that not all key stakeholders were present. Some time after the meeting, I became aware that one of the participants in the forum (the SA Recreational Fisheries Advisory Committee, SARFAC, representative) had, at the time of the meeting, knowledge of a $5.5 million Government incentive to his sector (described as a sweetener in internal Departmental documents subsequently released under FoI provisions) in relation to the marine parks issue. This clear conflict of interest was not declared at the forum. I believe it should have been. In several instances, I cast a dissenting view on specific zoning proposals where those proposals did not result in, or where there was insufficient evidence for, a balanced approach to marine park zoning that properly considered the impacts on sustainable seafood production and communities as well as conservation issues In each instance, I requested these views be recorded in the Minutes of the meeting Despite requests, Minutes of the meeting of the Stakeholders forum have never been provided to me, which quite frankly, I find extraordinary I also requested, and received from Minister Caica, assurances that these marine parks would be genuine parks with funds allocated for adequate monitoring, for adequate management and for adequate compliance activities. None of these requests have been addressed or discussed.

I now find that my views at that stakeholder forum are being promoted in ways that I can only describe as slanderous. This is not only insulting but also is certainly not in the spirit in which I participated.

Given the seriousness of this issue, I seek your co-operation in attending to this matter. This can be done by (a) distributing the minutes of the stakeholder forum meeting to all participants for approval and subsequent release so the record of that meeting is unambiguous and transparent and is on the public record I would expect that the undeclared conflict of interest be noted as part of this process (b) providing appropriate directions to Departmental staff as to the outcomes of the meeting. We all want a balanced, transparent and informed debate on this important marine parks issue but that is not what we are getting at the moment Yours sincerely,

Dr. Gary Morgan 7 Edward Ave Crafers West SA 5152