Oyster Industry

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. How is the state government supporting South Australian oyster hatcheries?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:54): I thank the member for Reynell for the question. On 1 February this year, a Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome outbreak was detected in Tasmania, which meant that in South Australia we closed down our borders to the movement of oysters. Since then, we have been trying to deal with the consequences of that.

Of course, the oyster industry in South Australia is very strong. It employs about 280 people and it's worth $32 million to the economy each year, so it is very valuable. We want to make sure that not only do we have a thriving industry, but we have an industry that is free of POMS. South Australia is now the only jurisdiction in Australia that remains free of Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome.

One of the big problems we have is that to grow oysters we need spat (juvenile oysters), and there are only two spat producers in South Australia. They produce about 20 per cent of the industry needs, so only 20 per cent comes from South Australia. With the borders locked to the importation of spat from anywhere else, we have been dealing—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We are the friends of the fishers and the farmers over here. You keep interjecting.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: They are pretty happy with us. You want someone to look after primary industries, vote Labor. You take it for granted because you're in safe seats.

Some of the financial assistance that we have offered up in the response so far includes about $70,000 in operating costs—that's largely around laboratory testing of samples. SARDI has also commenced producing spat, and we are conditioning and maintaining the brood stock and the culture algae for SA hatcheries, at a cost of about $150,000. This is really important. We don't want to be in competition with these two spat producers in South Australia, but we want to make sure there is enough spat there for our oyster growers to be able to access and to continue growing this wonderful product that South Australia is renowned for.

We have also provided $320,000 to the two South Australian hatcheries for emergency assistance to facilitate an increase in spat production. That's vitally important for these two companies that were going along at their own pace while—

Mr Pengilly: How do you stop it from getting into the spat? That's what I want to know.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Okay, let's go back. It turns up—

Mr Pengilly: I'm serious.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I'm serious as well. What we know is that the POMS turned up in Tasmania, possibly from the discharge from a vessel, or something like that, some other reason. We know that it's in Tasmania. We know that New South Wales has had it for over three years and they are dealing with it. By closing down the borders and preventing the importation of spat, we are going a long way to making sure that we reduce the risk. It could still turn up through some other means—the discharge of ballast or something like that—but what we can do is take every bit of action that we possibly can to reduce the risk of the POMS turning up in South Australia.

We had a very good meeting in Port Lincoln with the oyster growers from right around Eyre Peninsula. I was really happy that the member for Flinders could be there with us because together we are going to work side by side with our oyster growers to make sure that we preserve this industry and those 280 jobs of great hardworking South Australians.