South Coast Algal Bloom

The Hon. C. BONAROS (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. With respect to the answers that she gave in this place yesterday on algal bloom, my questions are:

1. What discussions have taken place with the 5 per cent of the oyster industry impacted by quarantine closures?

2. Has compensation been discussed with any of them directly?

3. Does the minister accept she doesn't need to wait to be contacted by the oyster association to enter into such discussions regarding relief for farmers impacted?

4. Does the minister acknowledge that telling us the bleeding obvious—that they are closed—does nothing to alleviate their dire financial stress for businesses in Stansbury, Port Vincent and American River, nor does it give us any updates regarding the status of their closure and what is being done to assist them? Can she please address those questions.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for her question. If she has specific information that she would like put on the record, she is more than welcome to contact me prior to question time so that a full answer can be available if she is keen for that to occur.

In terms of the answer I gave yesterday, I think I refer back to that in terms of the information currently available. When there are closures—and closures do occur for a number of different reasons—it is usual that the industry body that represents a particular sector will generally be speaking on behalf of individual businesses, in this case individual fishers. They are more than welcome to discuss their needs with us.

I think at the outset, PIRSA attempts to communicate with all licence holders or known industry members about things such as closures and of course what they are particularly keen to understand in the majority of cases is all the information we have available to inform when a closure might be able to be lifted. Sometimes that information, of course, is part of an evolving situation and therefore simply is not available. In terms of financial assistance, I would encourage oyster farmers to contact the department for additional information or to reach out for assistance where that might be available.