Algal Bloom

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Environment. What criteria was used to select the eight beaches regarding the seven-day-a-week coverage of surf lifesaving patrols, and does the government have any plans to extend those patrols to other beaches?

The Hon. L.P. HOOD (Adelaide—Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (15:09): I thank the leader for his question. As we have announced as part of our summer plan on the weekend, seven-day patrols will be at eight popular beaches: Semaphore, Henley Beach, Glenelg, Brighton, Port Noarlunga, Moana, Aldinga Bay and Goolwa. They will start from 1 December, as we announced on the weekend down at Glenelg, in this incredible partnership with Surf Life Saving South Australia.

For 100 years they have been protecting South Australians at the beach. I think whenever their flags, the red and yellow flags, go up, that is a sign of safety and confidence that South Australians can go down and enjoy our beaches. Let's be honest: they have, for that century, actually been dealing with life-threatening events when it comes to our oceans, whether that is our marine life, sharks, waves, etc.

We have acknowledged that these are eight popular beaches where we will be instigating the seven-day-a-week patrols. In addition to that, we have also announced our Beachsafe app. That is an upgrade of the current app that Surf Life Saving uses to provide information for families. What this upgrade will do is have those three clear pieces of information that families and South Australians will be able to use to determine where they head to for a day at the beach.

I know that for many of us on this side of the house, it's a fantastic source of information for families and South Australians to have. We all know what it's like bundling kids in the car with the towels and the beach toys and the sunscreen and the goggles, and this information will provide families with a key source of the factors that they might consider when deciding to head to one of the more popular beaches. We know that those daily patrols will occur through our clean-up on the beaches, so those three pieces of information will then be able to show whether or not there is abnormal foam or discoloured water and also when the beach was cleaned.

We have those for 23 locations and we are looking at progressing that to more regional locations. We have announced the summer plan, a $102.5 million fifty-fifty partnership with the federal government so that we can protect that way of life and ensure that South Australians can have that iconic summer at the beach, and we very much look forward to South Australians having some great times with their families down on the coast this summer.