Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-02-18 Daily Xml

Contents

St Kilda Mangroves

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:54): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question on the topic of mosquito-borne diseases to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Late last year, we had warnings from SA Health that the risk of local transmission of serious and potentially deadly mosquito-borne diseases in our state is at its highest level since 2010. The St Kilda mangroves host a wide variety of visitors and are not far from residential areas. Indeed, as the minister may be aware, we are currently seeing a mass die-off of the mangroves and salt marshes down at St Kilda.

One of the impacts of this is that there has been a surge in the mosquito population, certainly more than one would normally expect at this time of the year. My question to the minister is: what is the government's response to the unfolding environmental disaster down at the St Kilda mangroves with regard to the growing mosquito populations and the possibility of mosquito-borne disease?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:55): Certainly, the lead minister for the mangroves is the Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon. David Speirs. In terms of the public health response, I will seek advice. I would stress that SA Health shares the public health responsibilities in the South Australian system with local government, so I will seek information from both the local government and SA public health services.