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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-28 Daily Xml
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Algal Bloom

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. How have algal bloom community forums assisted the development of the state government's response to the ongoing harmful algal bloom?

The Hon. L.P. HOOD (Adelaide—Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (15:06): I thank the member for her question and also for the care and commitment she has shown to her local community during the algal bloom. Since the start of the bloom, the state government has been committed to not only sharing the latest information with South Australians but also listening to them to understand their concerns and take on their feedback. The views of South Australians have been integral in the Malinauskas government's $102.5 million summer plan, in partnership with the federal government.

The three main objectives of the plan are to ensure South Australians can enjoy summer, that we are backing our coastal businesses and communities and advancing research, and also investing in environmental resilience and recovery. A key plan in listening to the community as we brought the plan together has been the extensive engagement through our community algal bloom forums. These community forums have been an invaluable source of information and feedback as we developed the summer plan.

To date, we have held 20 forums in metropolitan and regional areas, and these forums include representatives from government as well as experts from the environment department, SA Health, primary industries and tourism, who are all available to answer questions from community members. I myself have attended or hosted a number of the forums. My first was in Kingston in the state's South-East, where I spent many of my summers. I also attended and hosted them in Aldinga, Goolwa, Seacliff and West Lakes. I very much experienced and heard the passion and care South Australians have for our coastal communities and also the environment.

As I said, we have held 20 forums. The next one will be held next month in Mount Gambier on 14 November. So far, we have had more than 2,000 people attend these forums, and almost 90 per cent have said that they have found the forums very useful. We lay out the science, we lay out the government response, also the health advice, and allow a significant portion of time for questions and answers with the audience and panel members.

As well as the forums, the state government is reaching out to our communities in a variety of ways. There have been almost 350,000 views on the algalbloom.sa.gov website, more than 4,400 people have subscribed to the e-newsletter and, as I was saying, the feedback from these community forums has helped inform our extensive $102.5 million summer plan. Whether that has been the extension of the Surf Life Saving Beachsafe app that helps you plan your trip to the beach, the introduction of dining cash-back vouchers or the major investments in our environment—more than $20 million to build native community oyster reefs, restore seagrass and blue carbon to improve our marine environment—the government has very much been listening to South Australians and turning their passion and ideas into action.

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