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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-02-03 Daily Xml
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St Kilda Mangroves

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:08): I move:

That this council—

1. Condemns the inaction of the Minister for Environment and Water and the Minister for Energy and Mining in dealing with Buckland Dry Creek Pty Ltd, resulting in the mass die-off of mangroves in St Kilda;

2. Calls on the government to act to ensure that the hypersaline brine filling the ponds near the south of St Kilda Road is drained out as a matter of urgency;

3. Calls on the ministers to commit to closing and repairing the ponds as directed in the Crown land lease conditions; and

4. Calls on the ministers, and their departments, to work with the public to create an action plan for the closure of the ponds and restoration of the surrounding tidal wetlands.

For many months now, the community—and, damningly, the government—have known that the St Kilda mangroves are dying. The signs point to the cause of the mass die-off being the refilling of the old gypsum ponds with hypersaline brine at the nearby Dry Creek salt field, which is being managed—I use the word loosely—by the Buckland Dry Creek company. These ponds have been empty against advice, which I will get to later, since 2014, when the site ceased operating. As they dried out, their gypsum lining dried too, rotting, cracking and leading to the production of acid.

Small amounts of hypersaline water started leaking out of the ponds in early 2020, ramping up in May 2020. By July, we started to see sick mangroves and sick household gardens in the area too. By August, the trees on the common were dead and all the gum trees in the gardens had dropped their leaves. The mangroves were, of course, seriously sick. Then the saltmarsh as well started dying.

In late September, DEM, DEW, the EPA, the Coast Protection Board and the mining company came for a visit to the mangroves and found areas of leakage where you could see and hear the brine trickling out of the banks. At that time, you could even see where the acidified brine had reached the surface. So the government had seen for themselves as far back as September 2020, but those warning signs and the damage had actually been there for longer. In fact, following that time, Geoscience Australia were able to track via aerial imaging the mass die-off occurring over just a few weeks.

Yesterday, 2 February 2021, was World Wetlands Day. Myself and my colleague the Hon. Mark Parnell and members of both sides of parliament, but more notably the Labor side, held a vigil on the steps outside, mourning the destruction and degradation of what we now understand to be about 193 hectares of vegetation.

Prior to this, myself and others attended the launch of the new St Kilda Mangroves Alliance. This is a collective of local, national and international organisations and individuals representing the environment, industry, science and community. They have come together to ensure that urgent and best practice action is taken to ensure the recovery and long-term health of this globally significant wetland.

The launch of the alliance had 16 member organisations, and that number is growing. The St Kilda Mangroves Alliance are calling on the Marshall government to intervene, and they have four demands:

1. The immediate removal of the damaging, hypersaline brine in the ponds to the south of St Kilda Road.

2. Providing much greater transparency and a genuine two-way exchange of information between Buckland Dry Creek Ltd, the Department for Energy and Mining and the public.

3. The development of a closure and rehabilitation plan, in partnership with the public, for the damaged ponds, and a restoration plan for the surrounding tidal wetlands.

4. A permanent solution to the unstable holding pattern operating in the northern ponds, preferably the transition of those ponds to self-sustaining natural habitats that do not pose ongoing risk to the surrounding tidal wetlands.

The impacts of this die-off are drastic and widespread. Even where the mangroves and saltmarsh have not yet died, the environment is under significant stress. Recent spatial analysis has shown just how big the impact zone is: 2.4 hectares of back swamp, 20.5 hectares of chenier and dunes, 12.8 hectares of high saltmarsh, 78.7 hectares of mid to low marsh and 78.7 hectares of mangroves.

That is a total of 193.1 hectares that are already dead or stressed. The damaged area is actually almost the size of 100 Adelaide Ovals. This is not including the further 150 hectares of vegetation that falls in the 'at risk' or 'declining but not yet enough not evidence to attribute cause' categories.

It is worth noting that the Minister for Environment dismissed this yesterday on ABC radio, saying 'perspective is important' and that this is not a huge area of mangroves. Let me be clear: that was in a reference to what had been previously understood as the impact area, which is smaller than what we now know to be the case. He was referring to the 10 hectares of mangrove forest and 35 hectares of saltmarsh. Even if we did not now know that the numbers are so much higher or more horrifying, 45 hectares of mangroves and saltmarsh can hardly be dismissed, as it was.

But that is not all. These leaking salt ponds have killed the gardens of almost half a dozen houses, and the groundwater in the area has been negatively affected, with further impacts likely and far-reaching. This could continue to affect estuaries at Helps Road drainage and the Little Para River, where native freshwater fish could suffer.

Intertidal and shallow subtidal seagrass and sand habitats around the area support at least 56 species of fish and invertebrates identified. These species are vital to local fisheries, and the area acts as a nursery for these species. The dieback also has expected flow-on effects for native animals, such as the endangered samphire thornbill and the blue-winged, elegant and rock parrots.

This area is so beloved and so significant, not just for the environment but of course for the community as well, and the outpouring of support and the desire for action from the community has been incredible. On 27 January, we saw around 40 enthusiastic citizen scientists come together to help collect data on the condition of the saltmarsh and the wetland, though it is worth noting that they were joined by some departmental staff.

The local and broader community does care about mangroves deeply, and there is an enormous amount of local, community and scientific expertise that has been ignored, downplayed or dismissed, which has consistently led to decisions that have not only been too little but too late. They have allowed the damage to continue. The community's understanding of the scope of the damage is growing, with many contributing their time and their resources to ensure that we have a firm understanding of the real impacts of this disaster and of course how it can be fixed.

The Minister for Environment and Water has bemoaned the situation on radio and in the media in past weeks, citing this as 'the most complicated environmental matter I've ever come across since being environment minister'—this from our current minister who, had he acted much earlier, would not be facing such a crisis at all. That complication is by the Marshall government's own hand.

It did not need to be this way. It is common knowledge that, had the government acted when the issue was first detected, the solution would have been far more simple. Rather than pumping out the brine immediately when the issue became apparent, it has been left in the salt ponds, where it is now well over 10 times saltier than seawater. It is now crystallising, which means it cannot be moved through pipes and ponds as easily.

The disaster did not come out of nowhere and, regardless of what the minister says on morning radio, it was not unforeseen and did not need to become this complicated. That minister, when confronted about how this has been allowed to happen, has simply said:

I believe the sufficient environmental checks and balances were taken into account...Previous activity has been reinstated—in the past it hasn't caused issues, but this time, for whatever reason, it has resulted in hypersaline water affecting the mangroves.

This statement would be laughable if it were not so blatantly false and with devastating consequences. As far back as 2012, before the salt ponds were originally retired, a briefing report was prepared for the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board, outlining the risks and opportunities following the potential closure of the Ridley Dry Creek salt fields.

Some of those risks that were identified nearly nine years ago now include: the risk of potential acid sulphate soils being activated once ponds are dried out or if there is an attempt to mine gypsum deposits from the ponds; possible impacts from the discharge of hypersaline brines—discharges from the salt ponds may have hypersalinity impacts on the receiving environment; and the risk of long-term liability from failed ventures and insufficient remediation.

In particular, I would like to highlight the section of that briefing paper:

Some aspects of the closure could result in immediate impacts, while other aspects are medium to long term…Some of the immediate concerns include managing brine discharges to minimise high sodium impacts, stabilising drained ponds to minimise [Acid Sulfate Soil] production and prevent subsidence, making a decision about the ultimate rehabilitation targets for the site and determining whether the Crown wishes to allow the miner to pass some ponds over for other mining or commercial use.

This is not actually some random report that has been hidden away over the years and then suddenly dug up again. This is a briefing paper that was initially requested by the government, but also a briefing paper that the DEM has uploaded onto the department's information page relating to this specific issue. It has been there since at least late last year, or we are assuming that is the case given the department's website currently lists its first notification on the issue as being from the future—indeed, December 2021. We assume they meant December 2020.

I certainly hope that we will not still be having this same conversation at that time, at the end of this year, because then it will be far too late. The previous updates from the website were Thursday 14 January 2021, then 12 January 2021, 8 January 2021 and 24 December 2021, obviously a date we have not yet reached. However, I am more hopeful for the future than the government's own website and this report is. That report, as I have noted, states:

An updated program for environmental protection and rehabilitation for the Dry Creek salt fields was approved by the Department for Energy and Mining (DEM) on 24 December 2020, which allows Buckland Dry Creek Ltd (BDC) to reconnect Section 2 and Section 1 of the salt fields, though ML 6514. This approval enables BDC to move water within the Dry Creek salt fields which is a critical step to address impacts that have occurred in Section 2 of the salt fields. This approval does not allow the re-commencement of commercial salt production. If Buckland Dry Creek Ltd (BDC) wish to re-commence full scale commercial salt operations, a review of the program for environment protection and rehabilitation is required and would require subsequent government assessment and approval.

It goes on. I note that that was on 24 December. I also note that both ministers are involved in this. Through the words of the Minister for Environment and Water on ABC radio, I note that they are so committed to this issue that they came in on Boxing Day, 26 December or thereabouts, taking time out of their holidays to address and have a meeting about this most urgent issue—this most urgent issue that would not have been urgent had they acted much earlier than Christmas and much earlier than they did.

While this is an environmental disaster, it risks also becoming a health issue as the mosquito population is now exploding. As the mangroves die and vegetation recedes, this is leading to an absence of birds, fish and other wildlife that would be natural predators for that mosquito population that has now grown very quickly. It is already quite noticeable down at the mangroves. Should anyone visit, you will need a lot of mosquito repellent as there are plenty of them swarming around. We risk a growing mosquito population starting to enter areas where people live, which is obviously quite undesirable and has other health risks.

Despite all this, despite there being a clear way forward suggested by the community, despite the problems and the dangers that were identified, the damage continues, and not a single drop has been transferred to the designated holding ponds. Instead, the brine has been moved between impacted ponds, where it continues to seep out into the environment. It is doing so right now as I speak.

The magnitude of this disaster is only outstripped by the ineptitude of this government in dealing with it. We see departments passing the buck from one to the other, we see ministers diminishing the scale of the damage that has been done and we see that it is actually too late to save the mangroves and salt marshes that we have already lost.

If we act now, we can ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy those mangroves once more but, more importantly, that the environment will benefit from those mangroves once more. Unlike what the minister said on radio yesterday, we are not talking about a quantum of some 20 years, as he very optimistically noted, we are talking about two or three generations before we even begin to restore the damage that has been done under the watch of this government.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

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