Grievance Debate

Algal Bloom

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (17:32): I rise today on behalf of communities, farmers, fishers and families who have been devastated by this government's failure to tackle the harmful algal crisis impacting our coastline. We know it is not just an environmental disaster, it is a failure of leadership, a betrayal of public trust. Today, we did not even have the Premier remain here for the entirety of question time. I was not advised, I do not know if you were advised—

Ms Clancy interjecting:

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Well, such is the arrogance of this Premier that he does not even think he has to notify the Leader of the Opposition or yourself that he has other commitments. We only get one hour a day of accountability in this place, and he still could not even front up for that today.

We have learnt that more than a dozen of the nation's leading marine scientists and associated experts wrote to then federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek in 2023 pleading for help. As Phil Coorey writes in the AFR, the scientists were anticipating upcoming marine heatwaves in the nation's southern waters, requesting $40 million in funding across 10 years to be able to better monitor and assess the impacts of the changes, which have grave implications for the fishing industry and, where possible, to also take mitigating action. That call went unheeded. Scientists warned the government to act. And what did we get? A crisis that has spiralled out of control. Labor has been too late.

By March this year, fish were dying, water was tainted and surfers on the Fleurieu were reporting coughing, sore throats and blurred vision. These are the facts. Entire communities were left reeling. Government delays have come at the same time as the spread of the algae like wildfire, threatening lives and also livelihoods. I have spoken to fishers who have lost their income as aquatic life suffocates. Tourism has been devastated as bookings have been cancelled en masse right across the state.

What did we get from this government and their federal counterparts? Photo-ops and bandaid clean-ups. They seem more preoccupied with saving face than saving the environment. Photo-ops and bandaid clean-ups—all too late. We have a government that prioritises headlines over solutions, pointing fingers at everyone but themselves. It sounds familiar, doesn't it, because we have heard it all before.

On the drought, we heard the Premier in his own words say, 'We can't make it rain.' On housing, the Treasurer said, 'Nobody is saying the government could do any more on housing.' Do not even get me started on the ramping crisis. It is a pattern of behaviour from this government and it prompts the serious questions as to what is at stake: our environment, our health, our economy.

Governments cannot necessarily control what happens in our state, particularly when it comes to natural disasters, but they can control the response to those natural disasters. The response from this Labor government has been nothing short of disgraceful. It has been too late for the fishers losing work, it has been too late for the businesses going bust and it has been too late for the ecosystems that are now on the brink, and South Australians deserve better.

Our community deserves a government that prioritises our environment over PR management, or mismanagement at the moment. We need a government that acts with urgency at the start of the emergency, not once some of the worst impacts have been realised. We need immediate action and a science-based plan with clear timelines to restore our precious ecosystems and waterways. We need a royal commission to get an independent review, marine monitoring to examine health and economic impacts and develop prevention and response measures for future algal blooms, because we know that they will return, as they have overseas.

No more excuses, no more delays, because it is the future of our ecosystems, our environment, the livelihoods of those suffering, and every moment of delay is a moment too late. We will continue to shine a light on this very important issue.

We know that the federal government was alerted to the signs of this in 2023. We know that $40 million was asked for—$4 million over ten years—and they were denied. They were denied, and this will go down as scandalous. It might be years before our marine ecosystems recover and it has been quite clear that this is a Premier who cares more about LIV Golf than he does about Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent. He should hang his head in shame.

He should hang his head in shame that today he did not even have the courtesy to be in question time for one hour. We only get three hours a week for accountability in this place and the reply so far has been nothing but substandard. With the Prime Minister coming tomorrow, we call on Anthony Albanese to recognise this as the natural national disaster that it is.