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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-19 Daily Xml
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South Coast Algal Bloom

The Hon. J.S. LEE (16:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding the algal bloom.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The recent algal bloom has severely impacted South Australia's marine ecosystems and shaken public confidence. Despite government assurances that commercially available seafood is safe, confusion still persists, worsened by some hospitality venues publicly refusing to serve SA seafood due to customer concerns.

It was reported that fish and chip shops reported trade drops of up to 15 per cent, and even producers in unaffected regions are facing downturns due to sourcing misconceptions. It appears that the $750,000 public information campaign has failed to cut through, leaving industry leaders and communities calling for clearer, more effective messaging. My questions to the minister are:

1. In light of some hospitality venues publicly stating that they will not serve South Australian seafood due to customer concerns, what action is the government taking to address the reputational damage this poses to the broader seafood industry?

2. What measure has been put in place for the government to evaluate the effectiveness of the seafood safety information campaign?

3. What immediate actions will be taken to strengthen public messaging in order to rebuild consumer confidence and support businesses throughout South Australia?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (16:09): I thank the honourable member for her question. It raises a very good point in that there are a number of people and areas not directly experiencing the algal bloom, yet are experiencing the impacts, despite in some cases being many hundreds of kilometres away from the algal bloom.

I must say that I haven't heard of any venues refusing to serve South Australian seafood, if you are talking about hotels, restaurants, and so on, but certainly if there are we are happy to reach out to them directly, so, please, I would encourage the honourable member to let us know about that. Having said that, we are of course aware of particularly those who have been in the media saying that there have been some difficulties around that. Certainly when I was in Stansbury a few weeks ago on holiday, I made sure that I asked specifically for South Australian seafood.

It is important to note that there is a lot of misunderstanding around the nature of the harmful algal bloom. I will take the opportunity to put it on the record here that, when it comes to our sea life in the ocean, the algal bloom affects the gills and therefore essentially—I am using layman's terms—suffocates the fish. That is how they are affected. When fish is purchased from a store, when fish is available on a menu, all of those fish are absolutely safe to eat. I think there is a misunderstanding about how the impacts on the sea life have been experienced.

I certainly take on board, as we have been now for some months, the concerns that are being experienced and raised by the fishing industry, by the seafood sector. I pay tribute to Seafood Industry South Australia and Kyri Toumazos in particular, for the way they have been working with the government.

A number of resources are available on the algalbloom.sa.gov.au website, which venues and businesses are able to use to put in their windows, for example, to explain why South Australian seafood is absolutely safe if it has been caught commercially, if it is on the shelves to purchase or if it is anywhere to buy and consume, such as cafes, restaurants and so on.

The government has been rolling out an awareness campaign, and there is still more that's going to be happening in regard to that. It will be evaluated in the normal way, as all government advertising campaigns are. I would encourage those in this place, as well as all South Australians, to consume South Australian seafood. We have a world-renowned reputation because of our high standards, as well as our sustainability, our clean green image, if you like. All our seafood that is available for purchase is absolutely safe to eat. Overcoming the perception is something I think we could all take on board as a shared responsibility.

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