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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-20 Daily Xml
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Motions

South Coast Algal Bloom

The Hon. S.L. GAME (16:34): I move:

That this council—

1. Calls on the government to immediately establish an independent inquiry to determine the causal factors and full extent of the devastation impacting marine life and industries along the South Australian coast with particular reference to:

(a) the association between desalination discharge from the Lonsdale desalination plant and harmful algal blooms given the significant increase in discharge from January to the end of March this year as well as international research indicating a clear connection between brine discharge and the growth of harmful algal blooms;

(b) the level of independent oversight and monitoring of discharge from the Lonsdale desalination plant and the adequacy of licensing safeguards under the Environment Protection Act;

(c) the data and research the government is relying on to inform the public of the species, cause and impact of this algal bloom;

(d) inquiry members being selected from a broad range of marine biologists, oceanographers, researchers and professionals to objectively determine potential causes and future actions necessary to diminish the current algal bloom and prevent further outbreaks; and

(e) any other related matters.

2. Calls on the Minister for Environment and Water to table a report from the inquiry in this council within three months of the inquiry being established.

The motion I am moving today is intended to address growing community distress about the devastating impact of the toxic algal bloom, as well as increasing frustration with the government's reluctance to fully and candidly inform the public about the potential causes, impact, and likely duration of what can only be described as the worst marine disaster ever to hit this state.

In addition to this, the government has stonewalled and dismissed any discussion about possible links between the significant increase of desalination discharge from the Lonsdale plant during the early months of this year and the growth of harmful algal blooms. This type of dismissive response has been described by Global Marine Resource Management as inconsistent with desalination plants around the world.

In my questions to the Attorney-General, representing the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, on 14 May this year, I asked what the government was doing to rule out long-term brine discharge as a cause of marine animal deaths. The Attorney-General's brief written response cited that under licensing conditions, the desalination plant must comply with environmental standards and performance requirements under the Environment Protection Authority. Unfortunately, such an inadequate response only serves to raise further questions, not only about the cause behind the algal bloom but also about the independent oversight of the Lonsdale desalination plant.

Given the unprecedented disaster unfolding on our coastline, South Australians expect their government to at the very least express a commitment to engage in some kind of investigative process that will objectively examine all possible causes. Instead, the Attorney-General issues a nothing-to-see-here response, effectively stonewalling any questioning about the role of the desalination plant in the unexplained deaths of thousands of marine animals, despite the plant's location in Gulf St Vincent, and despite the international research indicating a connection between plant discharge and the growth of toxic algal bloom, especially when discharge occurs within the confines of a gulf.

Surely scientific protocol requires appropriate research to eliminate possible causal factors; otherwise we run the risk of misdiagnosing the problem and never finding the right solution. It makes no sense to dismiss the desalination discharge as a causal factor without first seeing the science and listening to a broad range of experts. That is why I am calling on the government to establish an independent inquiry, so there is an opportunity to look at all the science, and we can work together to resolve this crisis rather than accepting convenient narratives that might have merit but do not tell us the full story or get to the source of the problem.

The environmental concerns with desalination discharge have been around since the plant's inception, and will continue until these concerns are openly and objectively addressed. The coordinated stonewalling and dismissal only generates further speculation about the plant's operations, and raises questions about cover-ups and the adequate implementation of appropriate oversights. It is not enough for the Attorney-General to merely refer to legislative safeguards governing the plant's operations, especially given the current marine disaster and the fact that no independent review of the plant has been conducted since 2014.

Without an independent inquiry into these matters, combined with an objective assessment of all relevant data and research, we may never know the cause of this toxic algal bloom and, consequently, we may never find the solution we so desperately need. Without appropriate action, this marine disaster could stretch into the summer and beyond to become one of the greatest ecological disasters the state has ever seen.

South Australians deserve a government committed to resolving this crisis as soon as possible, even if it requires immediate examination of inconvenient facts and data. On behalf of all South Australians, I am calling on the government to immediately establish an independent inquiry consisting of a range of experts, so we can establish the real cause of the algal bloom before it is too late.

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

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