Algal Bloom

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (14:30): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on the current status of the algal bloom?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (14:30): I thank the member for Gibson for her question. The member for Gibson, of course, has the substantial responsibility of representing an electorate that is coastal, and I know how enthusiastic the member for Gibson is to make sure that her constituents get the information that they need and genuinely want in regard to what is happening with the bloom.

Each and every Thursday the task force meets. We collate data that we have received over the preceding seven days and put it out in the public realm at the first available opportunity. Today is no exception. I do appreciate the member for Gibson's question, because it does present the opportunity to talk about some data that is a little bit different than what we have seen in the past and I just want to explain a few things around it.

Last week, after the task force, we reported that there have been positive signs over the last month or so in regard to what the algae is doing, particularly through a proxy measure of the algae, which is chlorophyll-a levels. We are particularly focused on the Gulf St Vincent, because that's where the bloom has persisted. We have talked in here before about where it has left or abated, but it has principally persisted in the Gulf St Vincent, although it's true that it's also in parts of Spencer Gulf, as the member for Flinders would well be aware.

So we saw the decline in the chlorophyll-a levels, and what we were looking for was data that validated that in terms of the cell counts of the Karenia. This week, we have seen more than a reduction in the cell counts of Karenia—we have seen a dramatic reduction. I want to talk about it, because it's important that we have a bit of context and people don't get too excited by this data. If you only looked at this data, you'd be forgiven for assuming that the bloom has gone, and that is not the message that we are seeking to project.

But just very quickly, in terms of some beaches that I know the member for Gibson would care about—for instance, down in the southern parts—we have seen at Hallett Cove the cell count go from 720,000 a couple of weeks ago to 141,000 last week, to zero today. At Brighton, in the member for Gibson's electorate, we have gone from 5.2 million last week to 280,000 this week. Just up the road at Glenelg, it has gone from 3.8 million last week to zero this week. At the Pat, 500,000 down to 36,000. At West Beach, in the member for Colton's electorate—and I know he's got an interest in this—2.1 million down to 1,300, which is basically zero, and so forth and so forth, right up the coast. The West Lakes exit, zero. Port River Dock 1, down to literally 100—not 100,000 or a million, just 100, which is basically zero. West Lakes Inlet, 12 million last week down to 1,500 this week.

So what we are seeing is not just a decline but what could be characterised as a collapse in the cell count data. This is positive and worthy of acknowledgement, but there is work to be done because this may be a representation of a dramatic decline in Karenia, which is good, but what has to be an analysed is whether or not it's just a Karenia reduction but the bloom persists because the composition of the bloom has changed.

While we welcome this data, we approach it with an extraordinary degree of caution and there will be more that the government will explain, as we did in our task force press conference today regarding this, because I know it is an important subject matter. But we continue to monitor it and we will report about what we find out from that research to South Australians at the first available opportunity.