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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-20 Daily Xml
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South Coast Algal Bloom

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (16:38): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes with concern the scale and duration of the harmful algal bloom affecting Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf and other South Australian waters.

2. Recognises the significant ecological damage caused, including the depletion of fish stocks, impacts on marine biodiversity, and potential long-term effects on the health of our coastal ecosystems.

3. Acknowledges the severe economic consequences for South Australia’s commercial fishing industry, aquaculture operators, recreational fishing sector, and associated coastal businesses.

4. Expresses its sympathy and support to fishing families, coastal communities, and small businesses suffering loss of income, employment, and wellbeing as a result of the bloom.

5. Condemns the state and federal Labor governments’ delayed, inadequate, and narrowly targeted response, which has left many of those most severely impacted without access to meaningful support.

6. Calls on both state and federal governments to work collaboratively to:

(a) support fishers, aquaculture operators, and affected coastal businesses throughout the bloom;

(b) release up-to-date and historical water quality, fish stock, and scientific monitoring data to the public in real time;

(c) establish a coordinated, whole-of-government rapid-response framework for future environmental and industry crises; and

(d) institute a royal commission to investigate the causes of the bloom, examine the adequacy and timeliness of the government’s response, and make binding recommendations to prevent or mitigate similar events in the future.

7. Affirms the need for transparency, accountability, and genuine engagement with industry and communities in responding to marine environmental crises.

I think it is clear that whilst we are all calling for slightly different things, what is clear, and what we can all agree on, is that this government needs to do more. This is the most significant marine environmental crisis South Australia has faced in living memory. For several months now, Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf and other parts of our coastline have been plagued by a persistent and destructive algal bloom, and this is not a passing natural occurrence. This is not a minor environmental nuisance. It is a harmful event, a prolonged harmful event, that has devastated ecosystems. It has decimated fish stocks, and it has shattered the livelihoods of families, of businesses, right up and down our coast.

The scale and duration of this bloom is certainly something out of the ordinary. Fishers reported empty nets where once there were healthy catches. Recreational anglers, who contribute millions of dollars to regional economies, have watched as fishing grounds have collapsed. Aquaculture operators have lost stock and endured restrictions, and coastal businesses, from motels and cafes to service providers and tackle shops, have seen bookings dry up and income disappear.

Let us first reflect on the ecological damage. The bloom has robbed the water of oxygen, causing widespread fish kills and the collapse of marine habitats, and scientists warn that the long-term impact on marine biodiversity could be profound. Once a fishery is depleted to this extent, recovery can take years—many years, even decades—and some species may never fully return.

South Australia prides itself on its pristine coastal environment, its clean waters and its world-class fisheries, yet I think this bloom has exposed the fragility of these ecosystems. It has reminded us that we cannot take the health of our waters for granted, nor can we ignore the role of effective monitoring, of data sharing and of rapid intervention when warning signs emerge.

The economic consequences are nothing short of devastating. Our state's commercial fishing industry is worth over $500 million a year and supports thousands of jobs right across regional South Australia, and the aquacultural sector adds hundreds of millions more. The recreational fishing sector is not just a cultural cornerstone of our state. It injects an estimated $1 billion annually into the economy. Yet, right now these industries are on their knees.

Families who have fished our gulfs for five generations are tied up at the wharf with no catch, no income and no clarity about the future. Aquaculture operators are facing mounting costs and lost production. Small businesses along the coast—the motels, cafes and service stations that rely on visitor traffic—are seeing trade vanish.

The financial hardship is immense, but so, too, is the toll on mental health. I have spoken to fishers who tell me that they do not know how they will pay their licence fees, their boat repayments or even their household bills. One fisher on the Yorke Peninsula said to me:

You know, we are proud, resilient people. We have survived storms, quotas and regulations, but this bloom is different. It feels like we are drowning and no-one in government is throwing us a lifeline.

This council must acknowledge and extend its deepest sympathies and support to these families and communities. Fishing is not just an industry; it is a way of life. It is an identity passed from parent to child, tied intimately to the health of our waters and the resilience of our coastal towns. When fishers hurt, their communities hurt. Right now, whole communities are hurting and yet where has the government been?

The response from both the state and federal Labor governments has been woefully delayed, narrow and inadequate. Unfortunately, instead of acting swiftly and decisively when the bloom first appeared, ministers dithered. Freedom of information documents uncovered by my office reveal a game of bureaucratic pass the parcel, letters from desperate fishers shuffled between departments, ministers declining referrals, and weeks turning into months before any action was taken.

Even when support finally arrived, it was, certainly initially, riddled with very narrow eligibility criteria that locked out many of the very people most in need. In fact, it was pretty clear early on, after the Premier announced the package, that the criteria were too narrow, because, like the farmers with the drought package, the vast majority of fishers and small businesses could not actually access the grant or any relief.

Whilst we have seen changes to some of the eligibility criteria, particularly around fishers and the aquaculture businesses, which we welcome and we have been calling for alongside the coastal communities and fishers and, indeed, businesses, we still have concerns, because coastal businesses like hotels and other hospitality venues are still excluded.

There have been concerns raised directly with the opposition around the amended business grants already publicly. I have had a number of conversations with a number of businesses that still, unfortunately, are not eligible and cannot access any support but that are doing it extremely tough. Our recreational fishers, who contribute so heavily to the regional economy, have also still been largely ignored. It is no wonder that one industry leader described the response as 'a bandaid on a bullet wound'.

So this motion sets out what must happen now. Firstly, both the federal and state governments must work collaboratively to support fishers, to support aquaculture operators and to support coastal businesses throughout the entire bloom. This means real support, not hollow announcements, not red tape, but practical, accessible measures that deliver cashflow and certainty, and for that support to continue for as long as these communities need it.

Secondly, we need transparency. For months, industry has pleaded for access to water quality, fish stock and monitoring data, and this information must be made available to the public in real time. If the government has nothing to hide, why not release that data? Transparency builds trust. As we all know, concealment breeds suspicion.

Thirdly, we need a coordinated whole-of-government rapid response framework for future environmental and industry crises. We cannot afford to stumble into the next disaster, whether it be a bloom, a drought or a biosecurity incursion, without a clear plan and without clear leadership and clear accountability. Certainly, amendments passed in this place yesterday to the Emergency Management Act we hope will improve some of this going forward.

Finally, we on this side of the chamber have been calling for a royal commission. We need a royal commission because only a royal commission has the independence, the investigative power and the authority to uncover the true causes of this bloom, to test the adequacy and timeliness of the government's response and to make binding recommendations to ensure that such a disaster never happens again. Royal commissions are independent of politics and independent of parliament, and that is why we are calling for one. The scale of the ecological and economic damage demands nothing less.

This motion also affirms the broader principle at stake: transparency, accountability, and genuine engagement with industry and communities. For too long, independent scientists, fishers and coastal communities have been treated as an afterthought, consulted only when the decisions are already made, left in the dark about the data and science that shape their livelihoods and dismissed when they raise the alarm, and that must change. If we want resilient fisheries, thriving coastal towns and sustainable marine environments then the government must work with industry and with these communities and not against them.

This algal bloom has been a catastrophe—an ecological, economic and social catastrophe. It has tested the resilience of our marine environments, our industries and our communities and it has revealed the failure of government to act with urgency, transparency and the leadership that this crisis demands.

But it is not too late to learn these lessons. It is not too late to stand with our fishers, our aquacultural operators, our coastal businesses and our communities. It is not too late to commit to transparency, to accountability and to reform. This council has the opportunity to send a clear message that we recognise the scale of this crisis, that we stand with those affected and that we will not rest until there is a full investigation, real support and a framework to prevent such a disaster in the future because if we fail to act now then we fail not only this generation of fishers but every generation that follows and the future of South Australia's proud marine environment itself. I commend the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.E. Hanson.

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