Environment Minister defends govt’s response to algal bloom
Governments are defending their responses to the harmful algal bloom after a damning, 207-page Senate report was released yesterday. The Federal Environment Minister was at a Murray-Darling Basin summit at Adelaide Oval saying he’s considering its recommendations.
Federal Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt has pledged to “work through” findings in the Environment and Communications References Committee’s unanimous, 207-page report into algal blooms in South Australia, that criticised government for a slow and fragmented response.
Watt said this morning at the Murray-Darling Basin Leadership Summit at Adelaide Oval that “[t]he Albanese Government received the senate committee’s report yesterday and we will work through the findings carefully”.
The inquiry was chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and heard evidence from more than 130 people, listing 14 recommendations, including that the federal government develop a new national framework to respond to climate-induced ecological disaster.
“The Albanese Government and South Australian Governments have jointly invested well over $136 million to support science and research into the bloom, affected businesses and environmental recovery,” Watt said.
“The health and resilience of Australia’s ocean is a high priority for the Albanese Government.
“We are deeply concerned by the widespread marine species mortalities caused by this extreme event and will continue to work closely with the South Australian Government and local authorities.”
The committee also recommended a review of definitions relating to national disasters so that events such as the toxic algal bloom are covered, as well as a JobKeeper-style program to help affected businesses.
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While the committee welcomed the South Australian government’s measures to address the ecological disaster, it said that “the time taken between the initial detection and the move to coordinate a potentially fragmented response was too long”.
The report also stated that there was “limited long-term data and monitoring of similar events”, which “contributed to a delay in response”.
Speaking to ABC Radio Adelaide this morning, Environment Minister Lucy Hood pushed back against the criticisms, saying that an event like this is “without precedent”.
“I think as the Senator (Sarah Hanson-Young) has pointed out, it’s easy to say in hindsight that you weren’t prepared for something that’s actually never happened before,” she said.
Asked about whether the Malinauskas Labor government would be implementing the recommendations from the committee, Hood said that many of the recommendations related to the Federal Government and that there already had been a response from the State Government.
“We have our $102.5m Summer Plan and that has extensive funding for science and monitoring, also for a study into voluntary buybacks, so that work is now underway,” she said.
“As the senator said, it’s really important that we’re investing in nature’s own recovery tools like seagrass restoration and native oyster reef restoration, and that work is underway as well, that is being funded within our Summer Plan.”
In relation to criticisms from the committee, which claimed there was a slow and fragmented response from SA’s government, Hood reiterated that “this is something that hasn’t happened before”.
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She added that the committee’s recommendation to create a JobKeeper-style program to support businesses was a matter for the Federal Government.
Hood pointed towards supports currently available from the State Government, including fishing fee relief and industry assistance grants.
“We are investing in our coastal communities, our coastal small businesses and also that really important piece around science monitoring, research,” she said.
Hanson-Young yesterday said the inquiry “laid bare just how ill-prepared both the state and federal governments were for this type of ecological and economic disaster”.
“South Australians should not be left to deal with the clean-up of this disaster on our own. The unanimous report from the committee has called for more coordination and support to be led by the federal government in the case of such climate-induced events,” she said.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said yesterday in response to the report that “no one really predicted the algal bloom”.
“We are dealing here with an unprecedented ecological event that humans can’t control beyond addressing climate change,” he said.
Speaking to ABC Radio yesterday, Premier Malinauskas said he had yet to be extensively briefed on the report because parliament was sitting.
However, in response to the report’s recommendations, he said, “I think there’s a lot of merit to and ones that we’re seeking to enact in any event” through the $102.5 million Summer Plan.
When asked if the Federal Government should take the lead in implementing the recommendations, Premier Malinauskas said it is best “when you see all levels of government working cooperatively”.
“There is not a single human intervention that anyone could make, even with the value of hindsight, that would have stopped the harmful algal bloom from happening,” he said.
Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia claimed the report demonstrated a “generational failure” for State and Federal Labor and criticised the government for what he claimed was a slow response to “one of the largest ecological disasters” in the state’s history.
“It’s taken this state government some eight months to actually come up with what the dominant algal species is, you can see that there are some errors in terms of the testing that wasn’t undertaken, there are massive gaps in terms of our resilience as a state to prepare for these harmful algal blooms, and we’re calling for drastic measures,” he said.
