Algal Bloom

Mr DIGHTON (Black) (15:31): I rise to speak about the algal bloom that is severely impacting parts of the South Australian coast, including in my community from South Brighton to Hallett Cove. There have been short-term algal blooms in South Australia before. They occur around Australia and internationally from time to time, and they usually resolve within a matter of weeks. An algal bloom of this scale and duration is unprecedented and, unfortunately, at this stage the scientists cannot tell us how or when it will end. There is no cure and nothing we can apply—nothing we can add to the water, no process to remove the algae—and its impact is a disaster for our marine environment.

Beyond our environment, it is also impacting our commercial fishing, seafood and tourism sectors. It is a demonstration of the intrinsic link that exists between our environment and our economy. It is also a demonstration of the link between our environment and our personal wellbeing. We love our beaches and we love our marine life, and when we see our marine life dying or when we feel prevented from doing the things we love, it can impact our mental and social wellbeing. I recently attended a beachside vigil organised by the City of Holdfast Bay at Brighton. The vigil was led by students from our local primary schools, and it was powerful to see these children simply yet forcefully show their concern for our environment and ask us as adults and leaders to make decisions that protect our environment.

The level of concern and engagement in our community presents an opportunity for our state and our nation. The engagement of our community should reinforce our state and federal parliaments and governments to continue to make laws that protect our environment, such as targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protection for the Murray-Darling river system. A particularly impressive area of engagement has been the many citizen scientists and community members who have been recording and documenting the algal bloom and the various fish deaths. The importance of citizen scientists has been identified in the next stage of the state government's support package, which includes a rapid meta-analysis of citizen science records to provide a baseline understanding from which to assess recovery.

Some of the other aspects of the next stage of the $28 million support package jointly funded by the state and federal governments include $13 million in science and research initiatives, such as an expansion of the coastal monitoring network; a new national testing laboratory in SA for harmful algal bloom and brevetoxin/biotoxin testing and the assessment of fish stocks and fisheries to quantify impact; and grants to support impacted business operators, including commercial fisheries and tourism operators, and it has been pleasing to see that a number of businesses have already applied for and received their support grants.

Beyond science, research and grants, the public information aspects of the package are important to emphasise. There will be a series of public information campaigns, and there has been a series of public forums for impacted coastal communities, including mine. We had the second public forum last night in Hallett Cove. These events are an important opportunity for our community to hear firsthand from the experts and an opportunity to ask questions.

I want to speak briefly from personal experience about how important trusted information about the algae is for our community. Recently, my family managed to get down to Foul Bay at the bottom of Yorke Peninsula. Foul Bay did not at that time have any current evidence of algae, although it has been there previously and has had a devastating impact. The water was clear and without foam. As a result, we were able to continually walk our dog Juni up and down the beach. We would have gone for swim but it was very cold. My son Albie and I also managed to catch a feed of mullet off the beach, and they were great eating.

It is important that our community understand they can eat seafood, both the fish and shellfish they buy, along with the fish, crabs, prawns, lobsters and squid they catch themselves, as long as they follow the normal cleaning and gutting processes before cooking. Sadly, it was very quiet on the Yorke Peninsula. I feel for the Yorke Peninsula communities, along with other coastal regional communities that rely on tourism, aquaculture and fishing, that have been impacted by the algal bloom. It is important that our community understand that they can enjoy, like my family did, the beauty of our coastal regions, like the Yorke Peninsula, even with the algal bloom, by following the advice of the chief health officer. By doing so, they will be supporting our regional communities.

The algal bloom is a disaster for our marine environment and one that, quite rightly, our community and parliament should be very concerned about, but it does not have to be a disaster for our tourism operators, commercial fishers and seafood businesses.