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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-03-03 Daily Xml
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Pollution Incidents, Public Notification

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (14:59): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Trade and Investment, representing the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, a question about public notification of pollution incidents.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: Sometime on Saturday afternoon it appears that some 500 litres of aviation fuel spilled on a ship in the Port River and that much of it ended up in the river. Residents reported strong odours, feeling nauseous; there were reports of vomiting; there were reports of people whose houses were full of fumes, making it very uncomfortable to live inside their homes. It appears the Department of Transport was informed around 5.30pm on Saturday about this incident, but the first notification I could find was from the EPA. It was on Twitter, and it was the following day at 1.12pm to their quite small list of 2,281 Twitter followers.

This notification was after most of the impacts of the fuel spill had dissipated. Coincidentally, I actually spent Friday afternoon meeting with the EPA to discuss public notification of pollution incidents, but that does not really help when it is a different agency that is the key agency with responsibility. My questions of the minister are:

1. What protocols does DPTI have in place to notify the public of such incidents?

2. Will the minister consider expanding the newly revamped Alert SA smart phone app to incorporate pollution incidents?

3. Does the minister consider it acceptable that the first official notification was narrow in scope and some 18 hours after the agency first became aware of the pollution incident?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:01): I thank the honourable member for his question and his very vigilant support of the environment, and I will take those questions on notice and refer them to my colleague the Hon. Stephan Knoll, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, in the other place and bring back a reply.

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