Algal Bloom

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:07): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier take responsibility for the government's response to the algal bloom crisis? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The crisis has moved from a manageable environmental problem to what experts are now describing as an untreatable ecological disaster.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:07): The Leader of the Opposition is the alternative Premier of the state, which means he is invested with a duty and a responsibility to himself understand the science and understand what we know about the algal bloom. The Leader of the Opposition would do well if he sought to familiarise himself—and we make available to him, as you would expect in a moment like this, access to briefings from public officials and people who are close to the science—with the fact that there is no off-the-shelf chemical or solution or machine, or any other intervention that you can think of, that would have made the algal bloom go away.

The Leader of the Opposition, as the alternative Premier, can hold a press conference after question time or tomorrow morning. He could go on radio and say, 'I, the Leader of the Opposition, leader of the Liberal Party, hereby would deploy solution X to stop the algal bloom from happening,' or 'Had I been Premier, I would have done Y and that would have stopped the algal bloom from happening.' And I tell you what—I will be listening, mate. I will be listening. If you go on the radio or go into the public realm and proffer any solution or intervention that you would have made—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left will come to order.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to make the unprecedented algal bloom disappear, we want to hear it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey, you are on your final warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: But in the absence of your sort of theorising about solutions that no-one else can proffer, what I suggest you do is familiarise yourself with the science and come up with some ideas and thoughts that might actually make a difference rather than contribute to speculation and conspiracy, because that is where you're at.

On the weekend you stood up and announced your candidate for the seat of Waite and there he was, in the Legislative Council yesterday, asking questions about the desal plant. What is he asking about today: Chinese warships? And you actively endorse him as he seeks to avoid shaking your hand. That is for you to contemplate. That is for you to answer. But we are not going to be on the conspiracy bandwagon; we are going to focus on solutions and interventions that actually make a difference.