Mr WOOD - 2007-08-29
Madam Speaker, I hope we can have a statement on prisons one day.
Just past Corroboree Tavern is a group of anthills which are a popular tourist attraction. The Arnhem Highway is widened at that particular site to allow for bus parking. There is a boardwalk around the anthills which I understand has been unusable at least since the beginning of the year. Why is this boardwalk unusable? Has it been repaired yet? What message does it send to the tourism industry?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. There is a bit of a sad tale to this. The boardwalk came under some disrepair. Parks officers appropriately fenced it off to look at repairing the boardwalk. On inspection of the termite mounds, which are the whole point of having the boardwalk – it is a popular tourist attraction – it was discovered that the mounds were empty. The termites have fled their termite homes. We suspect that tourists had been going up for closer inspection and breaking the integrity of the outer wall of the termite mound. The termites feel very vulnerable to attack when this occurs, and so the colonies have fled the mounds. I have been advised that they have relocated to mounds further north. So there is now a discussion within the Parks and Wildlife area about the best way to deal with this.
Obviously, we do want to give tourists, if you like, an up close encounter with our very famous termite mounds, but at the same time it is a case of ‘do you want to create those opportunities for the mound integrities to be breached so that the termite colonies have to flee?’ I am waiting for further advice from the agency as to the best approach to deal with the fact that the colonies have exited the termite mounds closest to the boardwalk.
Just past Corroboree Tavern is a group of anthills which are a popular tourist attraction. The Arnhem Highway is widened at that particular site to allow for bus parking. There is a boardwalk around the anthills which I understand has been unusable at least since the beginning of the year. Why is this boardwalk unusable? Has it been repaired yet? What message does it send to the tourism industry?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. There is a bit of a sad tale to this. The boardwalk came under some disrepair. Parks officers appropriately fenced it off to look at repairing the boardwalk. On inspection of the termite mounds, which are the whole point of having the boardwalk – it is a popular tourist attraction – it was discovered that the mounds were empty. The termites have fled their termite homes. We suspect that tourists had been going up for closer inspection and breaking the integrity of the outer wall of the termite mound. The termites feel very vulnerable to attack when this occurs, and so the colonies have fled the mounds. I have been advised that they have relocated to mounds further north. So there is now a discussion within the Parks and Wildlife area about the best way to deal with this.
Obviously, we do want to give tourists, if you like, an up close encounter with our very famous termite mounds, but at the same time it is a case of ‘do you want to create those opportunities for the mound integrities to be breached so that the termite colonies have to flee?’ I am waiting for further advice from the agency as to the best approach to deal with the fact that the colonies have exited the termite mounds closest to the boardwalk.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016