South Coast Algal Bloom

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding algal bloom.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: At midday today, Dr Anderson presented to media at a press conference and stated very clearly that there is nothing unprecedented about this algal bloom. Given that this algal bloom is not unprecedented, and that there have been numerous examples of outbreaks of this same species around the globe for many years, my question to the minister is: could have, and should have, the government reached out to Dr Anderson earlier when the bloom was first brought to the government's attention to understand what he refers to as 'control and mitigation technologies'?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:27): First of all, I think the honourable member is misrepresenting what was said by Dr Anderson. He said that this was a significant event. He said it wasn't extraordinary in response to a specific question from the media. When we have talked about it being unprecedented, certainly Dr Anderson has not contradicted that in any shape or form. It is unprecedented for Australia to have a bloom of this duration and of this scope. Now here we—

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti: That's not what you've been saying.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: It's exactly what we've been saying. Now here we have those opposite again trying to get some sort of, you know, gotcha moment instead of actually focusing on what we can do—

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti: Unprecedented means it has never happened, Clare.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: It has never happened here in South Australia. We have never had an algal bloom of this type in Australia. Now those opposite are being, unfortunately, quite ridiculous. Here in this place, I have said on multiple occasions we have had previous algal blooms here. I have referred to Coffin Bay in 2014. In terms of control and mitigation, again I would suggest that the honourable member listen carefully to what Dr Anderson said. He talked about, for example, the clay approach, which has not been used on anything like the scale of the bloom that we have here. I spoke earlier in the week about the different aspects of various potential mitigation measures.

As a government, we of course are keen to investigate any that might be possible and applicable here in South Australia. Of the various types that have been used elsewhere, they haven't been trialled in an area such as South Australia. Even in the United States, where Dr Anderson was referring to the clay approach, he said that they are only now getting approval to even trial that in the area he is working in.

It is understandable that those opposite would like a simple answer that can blame the government. The reality is that algal blooms are complex. The reality is that algal blooms have been occurring, but not at this scale and at this duration, here in Australia, and we have continued to engage and reach out to various experts in the field. We have continued to look at ways that this could potentially be mitigated.

What Dr Anderson said was that into the future perhaps there may be other aspects that could be utilised, but they need to be trialled. We need to be confident they are not going to have other unintended consequences that may be equally or more devastating than the bloom itself. It is tempting, I am sure, for those opposite to want to be simplistic. The reality is that it is far more complex than that when it comes to something that is a naturally occurring event that is having such a significant impact on South Australia.