Aquaculture Industry

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (15:27): I've got a cold. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation about the clean-up of a failed aquaculture venture near Elliston on the West Coast of South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: A constituent has made me aware that an abalone venture at Anxious Bay near Elliston is in liquidation with its assets auctioned off not long ago and infrastructure still in Anxious Bay not being maintained. I understand there is rubbish, bases and buoys everywhere and that there have been two whole rings, excluding nets, washed up on the beach just north of the Anxious Bay boat ramp.

Since then, my constituent has seen a whole aquaculture lease washed up on Waldegrave Island. Apparently, rings and nets were cleaned up but a lot of underwater equipment was just dragged out into deeper water and left there. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the minister aware of this mess over near Anxious Bay and Waldegrave Island and is he concerned about it?

2. Is the minister aware that PIRSA aquaculture tendered to clean it up?

3. Will remaining debris from the previous lease, the whole lease, that washed up on Waldegrave Island some years ago also be cleaned up?

4. Will all infrastructure where the current rings, etc., are still in position be removed?

5. Will the clean-up of Waldegrave coastline also be included?

6. Will the clean-up of debris along our West Coast be included?

7. Will the declared aquaculture zone area in Anxious Bay be decommissioned?

8. In regard to any aquaculture venture, will the state government change and amend legislation regarding the placement of financial security by leaseholders for clean-up processes?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:30): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. It is a salutary lesson to those opposite about how to ask questions in this place. No, I am not aware, in response to the first question, of the situation. Aquaculture leases, of course, are handled by PIRSA, not by my agency, but indeed I am concerned at what the honourable member has said, if it is the case.

I am not sure from her explanation whether the failed aquaculture abalone enterprise has gone into receivership or has just been abandoned. That is something I will take up with the minister in the other place and find a response for her. In terms of the issues with the shoreline, the clean-up, again that is something that would normally be handled by PIRSA through their requirements on the licence, but I think in this instance, given the urgency involved with the spread of rubbish that the honourable member has been advised of, I might inquire of the EPA whether they have been out there recently and if not, whether they would go.

Whether the aquaculture zone is decommissioned or not, again is a question that PIRSA can only answer, so I will take that part of the question also to the minister in the other place and bring back a response as quickly as possible. I will undertake to have my office contact the EPA this afternoon and find out what we know about the rubbish, particularly the netting, and whether anyone is currently being held responsible for the clean-up and if not, why not.