Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak of the plight of zoos and aquaria in the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory, we don't have what you would call traditional zoos and huge aquaria, but we do have several very unique attractions. Their tourism value is far outstripped by their ecological and educational value. Some of them are doing it extremely hard at the moment. We know that when down south sneezes the Northern Territory catches a cold. That is in fact what is happening. These attractions rely on interstate tourists and large tours of schoolchildren that come through in buses, which they're not getting at the moment. We have provided assistance to them, and that's fantastic, but they're still doing it extremely hard and are on the brink of, or are in fact, closing.

I'll talk about the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, owned by Rex Neindorf. It has a fantastic, unique collection of reptiles, many of which are found exclusively in Central Australia. It has fantastic educational and ecological value. Another attraction, up in Darwin, is Indo Pacific Marine, owned by Jon and Helene, which has in fact closed. They had been there for 50 years. They have whole-reef living ecosystems in aquariums. Have they closed because of COVID? No. They've certainly been impacted by COVID, but they have closed because the Northern Territory government has kicked them out of the premises that they lease. They were kicked out and not provided any alternative premises. They're not looking for a handout, they don't want anything free and they're happy to pay rent, but they have been left with nowhere to go. This is an incredibly unique attraction, and it is now lost to the Territory.