LORD HOWE ISLAND BALLS PYRAMID EXPEDITION
Mr FRASER (Coffs Harbour) [6.46]: I rise on behalf of a constituent, Mr Fulvio Fabreschi, who spent a number of years in the armed services in the special operations unit and who has many years' experience in outdoor activities as a very adventurous man. He manages a building society branch in Coffs Harbour, and he is well respected in the community. Fulvio has organised a four-week expedition to Lord Howe Island, particularly to Balls Pyramid, in April 1997. The expedition will involve eight to 12 people travelling from Coffs Harbour to Lord Howe Island - a distance of 650 kilometres - and return by kayak, a total trip of 1,300 kilometres. A support boat will be taken. Obviously, everybody who will undertake the program will be put through a rigorous screening process as they will need to be extremely fit.
The expedition has received a letter indicating the full support of Mr Dick Smith, who we all know is a great adventurer. The trip is also a scientific expedition in part. All climbers have the ambition of climbing Balls Pyramid, and these people have a great interest in the phasmid, which is a land lobster believed to have been extinct for some time. Apparently, the early settlers on Lord Howe Island ate the phasmid as a delicacy, but it is rumoured that it may still survive on Balls Pyramid. I have written to the Minister for the Environment - as have Dick Smith and Fulvio - seeking permission for the expedition to climb Balls Pyramid and, at the same time, to conduct the expedition in search of this elusive creature.
The Lord Howe Island Board supports the expedition and has included recreational climbing of Balls Pyramid for scientific purposes in its
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management plan presented to the Minister. The people involved with the expedition are not yahoos, but responsible people. Nevertheless, the bureaucrats at the department have decided to recommend to the Minister that the opportunity be denied for the expedition to climb Balls Pyramid to search for the elusive phasmid. This is a great tragedy, not only because these people regard this as a scientific expedition, but also because it is one of the last few great adventures. The bureaucrats advising the Minister have said, "No, we can't let them do it." No real reason has been offered for this decision, apart from the fact that people may hurt themselves in the expedition. At great danger people climb Mount Everest with the support of the Government of Nepal.
Balls Pyramid is the size of three skyscrapers, and it is not a climb I would like to undertake. Even with your interest in matters of nature, Mr Acting-Speaker, I doubt that you would like to undertake that climb either. However, these people are keen, prepared, experienced and well equipped for the expedition. I ask the Minister for Public Works and Services, Minister for the Olympics, and Minister for Roads to raise this matter with the acting Minister for the Environment to give these people an opportunity to return to the old days of exploration and adventure and, at the same time, possibly provide valuable information about the supposedly extinct phasmid. Mr Dick Smith in his letter to the Minister wrote:
After an extensive consultation process, amendments to the Plan were recommended, allowing recreational climbing . . . I now find that even though the Lord Howe Island Board supported this amendment you have rejected it. Could you advise me of the reasons for the decision?
No advice has been given to either Dick Smith or Fulvio, and I have had no response to my request to the Minister. I ask the responsible Minister to treat the request favourably in order to revive a little of the great Australian sense of adventure that is missing these days.