South Australian Algal Blooms

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. R.A. Simms:

1. That, in the opinion of this council, a joint committee be appointed to inquire into and report on the harmful algal blooms in South Australian marine and coastal environments, with particular reference to:

(a) contributing environmental, land management or water quality factors;

(b) ecological, economic, cultural and social impacts of algal blooms including impact on community health and wellbeing;

(c) the cultural and economic impacts on Indigenous communities, including any loss of access to cultural practices;

(d) the coordination of state government responses, including agency responsibility, industry engagement, scientific advice, and public communications;

(e) the current support and recovery arrangements for impacted industries and communities;

(f) the adequacy of long-term monitoring, forecasting and prevention strategies;

(g) the adequacy of research functions, rehabilitation and recovery planning;

(h) any other related matters.

2. That, in the event of a joint committee being appointed, the Legislative Council be represented thereon by three members, of whom two shall form a quorum of council members necessary to be present at all sittings of the committee.

3. That members of the committee may participate in the proceedings by way of telephone or videoconference or other electronic means and shall be deemed to be present and counted for purposes of a quorum, subject to such means of participation remaining effective and not disadvantaging any member.

4. That this council permits the joint committee to authorise the disclosure or publication, as it thinks fit, of any evidence or documents presented to the committee prior to such evidence being reported to the council.

5. That a message be sent to the House of Assembly transmitting the foregoing resolution and requesting its concurrence thereto.

(Continued from 20 August 2025.)

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:39): Noting the time, I rise briefly to indicate my support for this motion and also my support for the amendment that the opposition has proposed and circulated outside the chamber, that no doubt they will move at some stage.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (17:39): I rise on behalf of the opposition to indicate our support for this motion moved by the Hon. Robert Simms; that is, to establish a joint committee to inquire into and report on the harmful algal blooms currently facing our state waters. As we all know, this bloom has spread throughout the marine environment of this state and has been nothing short of devastating. The coastal ecology, recreational and commercial fishers, coastal towns, the tourism industry and Indigenous communities have all suffered as a result.

The government's response to this challenge was slow. It is important that we learn as much as possible from this experience and, more importantly, plan so that there is better response to any future harmful bloom outbreak. It is worth remembering that the early response was heavy on hope and light on action.

The communications revealed through an FOI request that government departments had no strategic organised plan of addressing inquiries from concerned constituents, bashing them back and forth between ministers in a clearly ad hoc manner. Some weeks after detection of the bloom, there was still confusion about which minister should assume responsibility for various tasks. The opposition suggests that the above motion would be improved with the following changes and therefore I move to amend the motion as follows:

After subparagraph (g) insert new subparagraph (ga) as follows:

(ga) the ongoing economic viability and ecological sustainability of the commercial and recreational fishing sectors;

Again, the opposition supports the establishment of a joint committee to capture lessons from this event, to learn from the response and to investigate more effective options on harmful algal blooms into the future.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (17:42): I rise to say that the government members will be supporting the motion of the Hon. R.A. Simms to set up this joint committee. We will not, however, be supporting the amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition. It is our view that the amendment is so broad and so incredibly complicated that we will not be able to report by the end of this year. The whole fishing industry? The sustainability of it into the future? That is going to take a long time and will detract from the investigation into the algal bloom. For those reasons, we will be supporting the establishment of the committee, but not supporting the amendment.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:43): I rise to indicate my support for the establishment of this committee. I think we will have plenty of opportunities to speak further on this so I will not keep people here in terms of some of the issues that we would like to canvas in relation to the algal bloom. I note that there is an amendment to this. I take on board the comments just made by the Hon. Ian Hunter in relation to the breadth of that, but I think we are sensible enough to know how to rein those things in.

I also appreciate that, notwithstanding the fact that this amendment may not be successful—an amendment which I am supporting on the understanding that we know what we are dealing with when we talk about the viability and sustainability of commercial and rec fishing sectors in the context of algal blooms—it is an issue that inevitably is going to be canvassed by this committee anyway because, with respect, these things go hand in glove and you cannot be looking at this issue without considering the impacts it is having on commercial and recreation fishing sectors in South Australia.

I think regardless of whether it is in there or not this is going to be one of the issues that is going to be canvassed by the committee, and I think that we are sensible enough to know what that remit would look like in terms of not getting out of hand and being here for 75 years looking at the commercial and recreational fishing sectors. With those words, I indicate my support for the committee and the amendment.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (17:45): I rise today to speak in support of the motion to establish a joint committee to inquire into the deeply concerning issue of harmful algal blooms in South Australia. As many members have highlighted, the impact of the algal bloom is wideranging. It has affected not only our ecological systems but also our economy, our culture and the social fabric of coastal and regional communities.

I just want to take a moment to particularly highlight the impact on small businesses and the tourism sector, which are often the first to feel the effects of environmental disruptions but the last to receive targeted support. Whether it is a family-run seafood business, a regional tour operator or a coastal cafe, those enterprises are deeply connected to the health of our marine environments and deserve to be part of the conversation.

I have spoken with tour operators like Mark Koolmatrie from Kool Tours, who has seen the impact of this bloom stretch across the books well into next year. His business is built on sharing the beauty of our coast and the cultural significance of the environment, but when the environment suffers so too does the ability to operate, to employ people and to connect people with place. Mark's story is one of many, and it underscores why this inquiry must be grounded in lived experience.

The motion also addresses the need for better coordination of state government responses, from agency responsibility to industry engagement, scientific advice and public communication. This is a critical point. Looking ahead, the motion calls for scrutiny of long-term monitoring, forecasting and prevention strategies. These systems are vital to building resilience and ensuring that we are not caught off guard. Prevention is always more effective and more affordable than a recovery.

I understand that the amendment moved by the opposition is well intended. However, I feel that the scope of the current terms of reference drafted by the mover, the Hon. Robert Simms, is adequate enough to actually be canvassed during the committee stage, so my approach is to support the motion in its original form. With those remarks, I commend the motion.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:47): I thank all members for their contributions and for their support of this inquiry. I do think the fact that all political parties have spoken in favour of this demonstrates that this is an issue that transcends politics. It is something we are all concerned about. I look forward to this committee getting off the ground and being able to really look into the state government's response, what has been done at an industry level and at a departmental level, and also looking at what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future.

I note the amendment that the opposition is seeking to advance. I am not supportive of that, and that is simply because I have deliberately kept the terms of reference broad enough to capture a whole range of impacted industries. Indeed, if you look at the terms of reference, you will note that they include the 'Ecological, economic, cultural and social impacts of algal blooms including impact on community health and wellbeing.'

That, I think, includes the fishing industry as well as small business, as well as tourism, as well as all of the other impacted industries. I worry that if we start singling out individual sectors or industries in the terms of reference that could create a disproportionate focus on one area at the expense of others.

I think the point the Hon. Mr Hunter made is a fair one—that it is already a significant endeavour to get a committee like this up and running within the duration of this parliament. We do not have long left, and so to throw in something else that is a really substantial area of focus does run the risk, I think, of us running out of time and not being able to give the algal bloom matter the focus that it deserves. So I will not be supporting the Liberals' amendment, but I welcome the broad support for this inquiry and look forward to working with all political parties to get it off the ground.

The council divided on the amendment:

Ayes 7

Noes 10

Majority 3

AYES

NOES

Amendment thus negatived; motion carried.