Algal Bloom

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Did the Premier call on the Prime Minister while he was in South Australia today to declare the algal bloom a natural disaster and, if not, why not? When did the Premier make a formal declaration of a state disaster to the Prime Minister?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:17): The most recent occasion on which I spoke to the Prime Minister about the declaration was yesterday. The Prime Minister made his position clear today, but he also went further than that. The Prime Minister also announced his intention to establish a critical ecological event line of funding that will be available to people in the community.

Clearly, I am not here to speak for the Prime Minister, but the Prime Minister in his remarks in the press conference this morning made clear what has informed his judgements, namely that the natural disaster arrangements associated with NEMA's declarations, which is a body free of political interference, as it should be, makes its judgements in accordance with natural disaster settings when we contemplate natural disasters in the more familiar context, that is, when people are losing their lives or when people are losing their homes. Clearly, that is not the case here, thankfully, but it is nonetheless a major event.

In our view, we are very comfortable in the government calling it what it is, which is a natural disaster, but whether you call it a natural disaster or a major or significant ecological event, what matters to the people we care about, those people being impacted by the algal bloom, what matters to the environment and the marine life that is experiencing devastation where the bloom exists is that we invest policy, money and resources into making a difference where we can. There is no-one on this side of the house who is preoccupied with exaggerating the scale of the challenge in order to induce fear in the community. All we are interested in is getting accurate information out into the public realm and investing in resources where we can make a difference.