House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Algal Bloom Algal Bloom Mr BASHAM House of Assembly Finniss Algal Bloom Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. When did the formal engagement commence between the federal government and the South Australian government in relation to the harmful algal bloom? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr BASHAM House of Assembly Finniss Mr BASHAM: The Senate report published yesterday states that the communication with the federal government did not take place until months after the algal bloom was first detected. The Hon. L.P. HOOD House of Assembly Adelaide Minister for Climate, Environment and Water The Hon. L.P. HOOD (Adelaide—Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:46): I thank the member for his question. Obviously, we know that this was an event without precedent. In previous examples of this occurring in the state, for example in 2014 in Coffin Bay, it only lasted a matter of months. So as we saw the bloom not dissipate, particularly as we entered into the winter months and we saw that it was persisting, we did see an extensive effort, a cross-agency, coordinated effort, to respond to this unprecedented incident. I know I speak for our side of the house about the good work of our former Deputy Premier and former Minister for Climate, Environment and Water in engaging with our federal counterparts, particularly as the new minister, Murray Watt, came into the role. As we established that the bloom was not dissipating during those winter months, not breaking up, we did see an extensive effort across agencies to respond to this unprecedented incident. Obviously, in the first instance, it was the $28 million package to be able to support the sectors impacted by this unprecedented event and then working very closely with our federal counterparts on the $102.5 million summer plan. That has some real core components, particularly around the science and monitoring of harmful algal blooms. Just as an example, some of the investments we are making in science and monitoring include water monitoring and forecasting. That is investing in South Australia's capacity for real-time water quality monitoring and forecasting, and that will be through a collaboration with the CSIRO, including the acquisition of state-of-the-art monitoring buoys. It also includes offshore water analysis, funding towards undertaking analysis in the deep waters of Gulf St Vincent where we know the bloom has previously persisted. As we have said, we have seen some really promising results over the last two weeks, a really dramatic decline and reduction in the Karenia cell counts, particularly around Gulf St Vincent, the metropolitan beaches. We are also establishing a national office for algal bloom research. That is a new $3.2 million South Australian-based office serving as a central hub for algal bloom science and research. That is a really core component of our summer plan and something that is obviously referenced in the inquiry. They are in the process of recruiting experts for that office. They are quite niche roles, but they are roles such as phytoplankton taxonomists, marine experts and climate experts as well. Very much on this side of the house, we are aware of the impact in which our climate is creating these interconnected events that are impacting communities. Obviously, something I am passionate about is the enormous investment in environmental resource and recovery, in particular around seagrass restoration and native oyster reef restoration. We know that they are investments in nature's own recovery tools that will build our resilience as we approach unprecedented ongoing events like this.