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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-15 Daily Xml
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Algal Bloom

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. V.A. Tarzia (resumed on motion).

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (12:20): It gives me great pleasure to reconvene and discuss the motion put by the Leader of the Opposition in regard to the algal bloom and what it means for South Australia. As the member of MacKillop, covering most of the Limestone Coast coastline, I can advise that we are not immune from this algal bloom and the effects it is having on our community, coastline, sea life and the like.

As a member of parliament, a representative of everyone in my electorate, and probably for the greater good of South Australia, I find that this algal bloom potentially does not have what I would call the greatest of bipartisan support in what is being done at this stage, and that perhaps it is being blown out of proportion beyond what it really means to the whole of the South Australian economy. That is not to take away from the effect it is having on areas along our coastline, including the greater metropolitan area, Yorke Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, even down into my neck of the woods in MacKillop, the Coorong Lakes, the Murray Mouth and the like, and also on consumption of seafood in general in South Australia—maybe even further abroad.

I would hope that this house unanimously sits behind the science, sits behind the facts, and absolutely wants the best outcome for everyone around this algal bloom, that we are bipartisan in finding a way forward; it is no political party's responsibility for the algal bloom turning up and what it is now doing to our coastline, sea life and the like. It is sad, in a greater degree, that we have areas of our coastline, society, businesses and seafood businesses, whether they be restaurants or producers of seafood, all suffering under this natural phenomenon, yet we are not bipartisan in finding a solution—and we would all be better off if we could.

This comes to my strong point that we have seen fishers around Meningie—scale fishers, small fishers—suffer from the lack of demand, perhaps even suffer a lack of the resource due to a die-off in the lower lakes and Murray Mouth area. However, we are also seeing a threat to and concern about the coastline where there is no algal bloom. This is why I stand here right now.

We have a town in the Limestone Coast—and there are several of them—that really has a boom time come December, January, February, and maybe even nearly March, for attracting tourists from South Australia, Victoria and probably all around Australia. They should still be coming to these towns because there is no algal bloom on the Limestone Coast down near Kingston, Robe, Beachport, Southend, Port MacDonnell and around to the Victorian border and coastline as well.

These towns—and there are probably ones on Eyre Peninsula of very similar nature as well—are not suffering the algal bloom, and I do not want them to be branded because they are South Australian coastal communities or towns and there is an algal bloom in South Australia. This language is not helpful; it does not help anyone at all in the whole state in terms of what the next three or four months might look like for all businesses concerned around the summer holidays, Christmas and New Year's Eve, and for South Australians in general.

This does not take away from the request by the opposition that we do need good policies around the support that is going to be needed for businesses that are suffering from this algal bloom to be able to manage and survive, if that is the intent and the goodwill of the government and this place—and I mean unanimously by the 47 members of this lower house.

I am really asking the government and the opposition to be steadfast and honest, with integrity, in sorting out what the algal bloom means for those communities and areas that are suffering, but also in highlighting those communities and coastlines that are not suffering this algal bloom. It needs to be clearly highlighted that these coastal towns and areas are not suffering the algal bloom. We have to start defining it. You might want to have a warning process if they did start to suffer.

What I see governments sometimes do is be overzealous and overreach—and perhaps cover their backsides, in a rough form of speech—and say, 'The whole of the coastline could suffer an algal bloom at some stage, but it's not there yet.' That is not helpful to anyone, and it is certainly not helpful to those towns that do not have an algal bloom and potentially may never have one because they are exposed to massive tides, massive currents and massive swells, and may always be getting their waters from cleaner areas rather than the trapped waters of the gulfs, such as Adelaide beaches and the like, where it cannot get away as we would like to see and there have to be other means.

This gives me a little bit of impetus here to support the government. I hope that the opposition is on board around oyster reefs, artificial reefs and the like. It has been talked about why they do not exist anymore: they were harvested, raped and pillaged over 100 years ago. We need to re-establish these. I am hoping that the government does not think about these types of reefs just for where the algal bloom is.

I think the artificial coastal reef idea has many merits for not only being a filter for an algal bloom but also for coastal erosion, and perhaps even the opportunity to create surf and surf beaches on artificial reefs that may attract people to surf the brilliant waves that could be created by an artificial reef structure. It would also protect our eroding coastline from the current storms and sea surges that are larger and more frequent than we are used to.

So there is an opportunity that I really would hope the state government takes up, and they should be working with the federal environment minister around artificial reefs. There is a program in the environment minister's portfolio federally that is solely looking at artificial reefs and how they will help our coastline. There are millions, maybe even hundreds of millions, sitting in there that I am hoping South Australia is looking at considering to, let's say, be bipartisan and use those funds for what I think is a crisis in regard to the algal bloom.

It is not only the algal bloom but the erosion issues we are seeing that are being dumped and put on local government. They are really seen to be hamstrung by the lack of moneys that they can collect and the cost of coastal erosion and dealing with seawalls, rock walls, sand replenishment and the infrastructure losses that we are seeing down in our neck of the woods on the Limestone Coast and no doubt elsewhere around the state.

Thank you to the opposition leader for this motion. I am not picking on the government or any side of politics of this house, or saying that anyone has the worst intentions. What I would say to this house is: let's try to find the best intentions around what this algal bloom means. The language should be more positive. Hopefully, the whole coastline does not have to suffer this algal bloom when there is no algal bloom being found in many other places than have been described.

The house divided on the motion:

Ayes 12

Noes 22

Majority 10

AYES

Basham, D.K.B. (teller) Batty, J.A. Brock, G.G.
Cowdrey, M.J. Cregan, D.R. McBride, P.N.
Patterson, S.J.R. Pratt, P.K. Tarzia, V.A.
Teague, J.B. Telfer, S.J. Whetstone, T.J.

NOES

Andrews, S.E. Boyer, B.I. Champion, N.D.
Clancy, N.P. Close, S.E. Cook, N.F.
Dighton, A.E. (teller) Hildyard, K.A. Hood, L.P.
Hutchesson, C.L. Koutsantonis, A. Michaels, A.
Mullighan, S.C. Odenwalder, L.K. O'Hanlon, C.C.
Pearce, R.K. Picton, C.J. Savvas, O.M.
Stinson, J.M. Szakacs, J.K. Thompson, E.L.
Wortley, D.J.

PAIRS

Hurn, A.M. Hughes, E.J.
Gardner, J.A.W. Fulbrook, J.P.
Pederick, A.S. Brown, M.E.
Pisoni, D.G. Malinauskas, P.B.

Motion thus negatived.

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