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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-02 Daily Xml
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Algal Bloom

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is to the Premier. What other groups, associations or sporting groups have voiced similar concerns to the government about any impending events that they are planning to hold on Adelaide beaches over spring and summer, and what is the government's current advice to them?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:16): It would be consistent with the advice that we have provided to the organisers of the junior surfing competition. We will make available all the information we have—we've got nothing to hide; why wouldn't we make it available to event organisers?—and they will make their own decisions.

Only last week we had a community forum with leaders of the surf lifesaving community throughout the state from both regional South Australia and also metropolitan Adelaide. We met with the clubs' secretaries and presidents and leadership from each and every club. We provided a briefing from both public health and SARDI. I was there. We answered all the questions that surf lifesaving clubs had. These are amazing institutions full of really good people.

We talked about the challenges that we collectively share with respect to the algal bloom and how we can work together to respond to it, noting the fact that it is going to be challenging in the event that it is around during summer. As it stands today, surf lifesaving clubs are preparing to operate during the course of summer as they routinely would, including with their volunteers.

VACSWIM bookings are open. I think my kids might have already been enrolled in VACSWIM; in fact, I think that is what has already occurred. Just as is the case with any VACSWIM program, for instance, there will be a safety assessment conducted on the morning of the VACSWIM event to assess the conditions and that will inform whether the event goes ahead during the day. That is routine on any given day for VACSWIM. Now, of course, surf lifesaving clubs in this particular example will have to undertake an assessment about what is happening with algae.

We hope that will not be required, because maybe the bloom will have moved on, but in the event it is around that will be the sort of activity that we see. The point is, whether it is a surf lifesaving club or the organisers of a surfing competition or a sailing club or anybody else, we make available the resources that we have within the government that are responding to the algal bloom to be able to furnish event organisers or parents or anybody else with the information that they might need to be able to make an informed decision. Therein lies the keyword: informed. We want to make sure, to the best of our ability, that people are informed so they can make their own decisions.

The opposite of being informed would be to be ignorant to information or to allow oneself to be overridden by conspiracy or misinformation if you had a motivation—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I don't know why you would feel a need to respond to talk of misinformation and conspiracy, unless of course you found yourself sitting uncomfortably next to others who would seek to propel conspiracy and misinformation in the community. That would be a confronting set of circumstances. We are committed to making sure that the South Australian community gets the information they deserve, based in fact, based in science, based in research, based in serious public policy advice, so that we can deal with this challenge to the best of our abilities.

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