South Coast Algal Bloom

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (15:02): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development on the topic of South Australia's toxic algal bloom.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: The algal bloom that is causing marine deaths across the South Australian coast has been reported by the ABC to be nearly the size of Kangaroo Island. According to a statement released by PIRSA, the effects of the algal bloom are being felt right across Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and Fleurieu Peninsula. The statement claims that a marine heatwave has been a contributing factor for the harmful algal bloom.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report back in 2019 that cited harmful algal blooms as being a risk to human health and marine health that is projected to increase along with the increase in global warming and rising CO₂ levels. My questions to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, therefore, are:

1. Has the minister's department undertaken any modelling to look at whether harmful algal blooms will become more prevalent in the years ahead as climate change worsens?

2. What is the Malinauskas government doing to prevent these algal blooms from having future impacts on our coastlines, in particular in our regions?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for his questions. It is certainly the case that there is grave concern across the state because of the algal bloom. We have seen a number of deaths of various sea creatures, many of which have been associated with the Karenia mikimotoi algal bloom which has, as the honourable member referred to, been described as almost the size of Kangaroo Island.

As a government, we have been working across agencies because, of course, this is not something that simply falls neatly into one government agency. My department, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia, has been working with the Department for Environment and Water, the EPA and SA Health.

Some weeks ago, the Deputy Premier, the Minister for Environment, and I hosted an update meeting with local councils and we have another meeting scheduled for later this week to provide further updates and discussions. I think it's an interesting reminder of how much bigger than ourselves nature is. I have said so publicly I think on radio, and the Minister for Environment, the Deputy Premier in the other place, has made similar remarks.

We can't do anything to dissipate this algal bloom. As referenced by the honourable member, a marine heatwave is considered to be responsible for it, with sea temperatures being about 2½° more than usual. That means that until we have a change in the weather, essentially, we cannot expect there to be a significant reduction in the size of the algal bloom. We need certain winds, we need certain swells to be able to see that happen.

Fortunately, algal blooms are not new; there is a lot of experience from around the globe in regard to them. Often, they will only last a few weeks, but when the temperatures or the weather patterns are different, then obviously the behaviour of the algal bloom will be different as well. I am sure we all hope that those changes in weather conditions will occur in the near future and dissipate this algal bloom.