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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-04-30 Daily Xml
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SARDI Fish Deaths

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): My questions are to the Minister for Primary Industries on the investigative report on mortalities of finfish and shellfish hatcheries at the South Australian Aquatic Sciences Centre:

1. Given the investigative report raises more questions than answers, with key data not being collected, will the minister commit to commissioning an independent and external review separate from SARDI into the government's handling of this incident, including the failure to collect contemporaneous water samples and the overall lack of coordination between government agencies?

2. Does the minister accept that the failure to collect water samples during the mortality event has fundamentally compromised the investigation's ability to determine the cause, and that this represents a serious procedural shortfall?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for her question. She seems to have failed to appreciate that there has been an independent peer review by Professor Michael Goodsite. That is the first and foremost point to make. In terms of whether water quality samples would have shown the reason, that is a matter for speculation. It is well accepted and acknowledged that had there been water samples, that would have been preferable. I have already outlined the reasons why in the past.

There have been many years of operations at West Beach. Water quality hasn't previously been an issue, and therefore it was not part of the protocols to collect those samples until it became clear that it wasn't one of the more expected reasons—namely, biosecurity issues or fish health.

The excellent staff at SARDI followed their usual protocols. It is well acknowledged, and acknowledged within the report and by the department, that having additional data such as water samples would of course have been helpful. That has now been addressed so that in the future if there are issues around mortalities of snapper larvae or oyster spat or barramundi broodstock or fingerlings—or, indeed, any other aspects at SARDI—that will be part of it. I think that learning from where there has been a gap and implementing changes is the appropriate outcome.

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