‘It’s a very promising thing’: The Mentalist star Simon Baker steps out with South Australian Liberals in a push to protect the Great Australian Bight

Simon Baker has thrown his support behind the South Australian Liberal Party as part of a renewed push to have a spectacular stretch of national coastline given World Heritage status.

The 56-year-old actor and filmmaker, best known for his lead role in the hit US drama The Mentalist, joined Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia, Flinders MP Sam Telfer and members of the Great Australian Bight Alliance on the steps of SA Parliament House on Tuesday.

Baker’s appearance formed part of a bipartisan effort to fast-track World Heritage listing for the Great Australian Bight (GAB), a vast arc of coastline spanning South Australia and Western Australia, famed for its soaring cliffs, wild seas and rich marine ecosystems.

The Alliance includes community groups and environmental organisations campaigning for formal global recognition.

Premier Peter Malinauskas also met with the group.

Baker, who is in Adelaide for a parliamentary screening of the David Attenborough-narrated documentary Ocean, told The Advertiser it was “promising” to see political rivals uniting to protect an environment he considers sacred.

“I watched with great enthusiasm the fight for the Bight, and then in the last 12 months I’ve watched the tragedy unfold of the algal bloom and the impacts that that’s had on the communities,” he said.

“I think it’s beautiful if we turn our energy towards preservation and preserving something that is sacred.

“To be here and to see the leader of the opposition speak out in support of World Heritage listing. It’s a very promising thing.”

Despite support from both state and federal governments, Tarzia argued the push has stalled.

“Protecting our natural environment should be non-partisan and the Liberals under my leadership strongly support the bid for World Heritage listing of the Great Australian Bight including the Nullarbor,” the Opposition Leader said.

“The toxic algal bloom crisis continues to highlight the need to protect South Australia’s unique coastal and marine ecosystems from increasing environmental impacts.”

Baker’s involvement in the campaign builds on his long record of environmental advocacy.

The father-of-three is an ambassador for Surfers for Climate Action and has previously campaigned to protect areas including the Great Barrier Reef.

In 2017, he appeared in the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s “Fight for our Reef” campaign opposing Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, featuring in a video calling out then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“Right now, our Prime Minister is trying to open one of the largest coal mines on Earth. Just inland from the Reef, just when we should be giving coal a miss,” Baker said at the time.

“Frankly, that’s so reckless it’s terrifying.”