Algal Bloom

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. Does the minister stand by her comments that the algal bloom is merely an irritant? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BASHAM: In a public briefing on 6 November the minister said in relation to the algal bloom it can cause an irritant. The scientific paper released last week, in which PIRSA and SARDI are listed as authors/contributors, states, 'inhaling brevetoxins can lead to serious health effects including shortness of breath, asthma exacerbation, bronchoconstriction and bronchitis pneumonia.'

The Hon. L.P. HOOD (Adelaide—Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:30): I thank the minister for his question. We have been very consistent with the health advice throughout this harmful algal bloom and we have been seeing positive signs in the last couple of weeks—in fact, we have seen a significant deterioration in the Karenia cell counts over the last couple of weeks of testing. I am advised at around 14 of the 21 metropolitan beach sites we are seeing Karenia counts as low as zero and in some of those other metropolitan sites it is significantly reduced.

We have always known that one of the Karenia species that was present was Karenia mikimotoi. We also knew that we were seeing brevetoxins present. We knew that Karenia mikimotoi didn't produce those brevetoxins, so we knew that there were Karenia species within the bloom that were causing those. We have actually seen in some of the research that when there is a harmful algal bloom there can be various Karenia species present.

That is why we invest in the science, that is why we invest in the research and that is why we have seen the research come through that actually shows effectively a name for the culprit: the Karenia cristata species. I am very interested in the fact that the opposition seems to be quite interested now in the science relating to this bloom.

I would put the question to the shadow minister whether or not he agrees with his colleague in the other place that the harmful algal bloom is actually worse than COVID: a global pandemic that killed millions of people. If they are, in fact, very interested in the science of this bloom, perhaps they should be looking to their colleague in the other place who is comparing this harmful algal bloom to a global pandemic that killed millions.

Perhaps he should be asking his colleague about the science involved in the AI-generated images of our beaches showing blood in the water. If in fact the shadow minister is interested in the science of this bloom perhaps he should be putting these questions to the Hon. Frank Pangallo in the other place. We have been very consistent with the health advice because on this side of the house we do back the science and the researchers.