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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-28 Daily Xml
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Algal Bloom

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Primary Industries a question on the topic of the government's latest harmful algal bloom announcement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: As part of the package, the government announced a $500,000 so-called comprehensive voluntary marine scalefish fishery licence surrender study to examine the long-term sustainability of the fishery, including a buyback analysis. My question to the minister is: can the minister explain why the government has not committed to a voluntary buyback program or alternative structural adjustment measures for the marine scalefish fishery in Spencer Gulf?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:32): The reason for the study is quite simple: so that we don't make the same stupid mistakes that the former government made when they reformed the marine scalefish fishery. They did the reform, and when we came into government and when I became minister—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —if I recall correctly, SACAT determined that the former minister, the minister in the Liberal government, made decisions that had no legislative basis.

We are very keen to support the marine scalefish fishery, as indeed we are very keen to support the sustainability of all our fisheries across the state, and we have been in discussions with the commercial sector now for quite some time in regard to what a potential buyback may look like. It is important to do the work—something those opposite clearly do not understand—because there will be a number of different implications.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Under the former reform, the then government aimed to remove, if I recall correctly, 150 licences. They managed to do only two-thirds of that. Therefore, there were a number of issues remaining in the marine scalefish fishery before the algal bloom. That is why the work needs to be done, so that we can understand the impact on the economic sustainability of the fishery as well as the impact on the price of seafood, for example, and the impact on the cost-recovery process.

There is a large amount of work to be done. The sector is supportive of working with government to achieve an appropriate and robust investigation into how it can best be done, and we will do that work.

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