Adelaide Beach Management Review

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Attorney as the minister responsible for the dredging trial conducted as part of the Adelaide Beach Management Review.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: In the water quality monitoring plan, found in appendix 1 of the Dredge Management Plan as part of the dredging trial, there is a commitment to continuous water monitoring and it reads as follows:

The 15-day and 6-day rolling median turbidity values will be compared to the 'Alarm' and 'Hold' criteria in Eagle.io and alerts sent out to key project personnel if they are exceeded.

This means that data should be automatically analysed on a rolling six-day average, with an automatic alarm in place for abnormal water quality values that would lead either to a manual check or a halt to dredging operations. However, in the SARDI report, the record of water monitoring data collected by sonde number 433 in figures 7 to 12 inclusive, there is data missing from 28 September to 18 November 2024. This is the critical period immediately prior to the first fish mortality event at the South Australian Aquatic Sciences Centre.

It is claimed in the report that the cause for the missing data was depletion of the battery. This would mean that the required data collection and alarms were not functional for 22 days without the fault being noticed. My questions to the minister responsible for the trial are:

1. Given the requirement under EPA guidelines and the commitment under the dredging plan for constant water quality monitoring, how can a data logger remain out of action for 22 days without being detected?

2. Why was dredging allowed to continue without the required alarms working?

3. Is the Attorney concerned that this failure occurred at the critical period before the first fish mortality event?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:25): I am advised that during the dredging operation, water quality monitoring was undertaken by the EPA and DEW in accordance with approved dredge management plans. I am also advised that at no time during the operation did this monitoring identify any anomalies in the water based on EPA benchmarks.