‘Disturbed’: Claims SA government staff told not to investigate algal bloom cause
A parliamentary inquiry into the state’s algal bloom has heard that government agencies were told not to investigate its cause until after the March state election.
EcoProTem principal ecologist Faith Coleman has told State Parliament’s Joint Committee on Harmful Algal Blooms in South Australia on Wednesday that government staff were told not to investigate the cause of the algal bloom until after the March 2026 state election.
She claimed to have heard this from “three separate staff from three separate agencies across two ministerial portfolios” but was unaware where “the directive comes from”.
Coleman said that “the political spin that’s come into discussing the causes of this bloom has deeply disturbed me”.
A government spokesperson said that “the state government, working with experts led by marine scientist Mike Steer, has clearly communicated the causes behind this unprecedented event”.
“To suggest otherwise, or that this approach has changed, is wrong,” he said.
Shadow Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Nicola Centofanti MLC said that “the allegations we hear in the committee today – that bureaucrats were instructed not to investigate the cause of this algal bloom until after the state election – are absolutely shocking”.
“If true, they raise serious questions about this government’s priorities,” she said.
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Greens leader Robert Simms MLC said that “these allegations are deeply disturbing”.
“The Malinuaskas Government must investigate these claims and assure the South Australian community that they have not sought to stymie any investigations into the causes of this bloom in any way,” he said.
Estuarine ecologist and consultant Coleman, who has been conducting citizen science research into the algal bloom and organised a well-attended public meeting at Middleton, was also concerned about what she said was a lack of regional testing apart from shellfish monitoring.
Monitoring was “only” happening once a month in Robe and the western side of the Eyre Peninsula, she said.
“I’ve been really thrilled that they’ve made some of that data publicly available now, but the broader making available and making sure they monitor across regional areas outside of shellfish is still not ideal at the moment,” she said.
Coleman also took exception to claims made yesterday by Premier Peter Malinauskas when he announced the federal and state governments, along with the National Parks and Wildlife Foundation was spending $7.5 million on buying Mundoo Island Station near the Murray Mouth.
Malinauskas said that turning the station into a wetland habitat would reduce nutrient runoff across the Murray Mouth and prevent future algal blooms.
“We think about the challenge of the algal bloom, which, although it has now largely passed us by, it’s important that we continue to invest in recovery and the resilience of our natural environment,” he said.
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“One of the contributing factors – there’s a number – but one of the contributing factors to the algal bloom was, of course, nutrient runoff.
“So, by taking this from a working property where fertilisers are applied and everything else, we diminish the runoff, which diminishes the likelihood of future algal blooms later down the track.”
Coleman told the inquiry that she supported the purchase of the three islands but was disturbed by the statement that it would help prevent future algal bloom outbreaks.
“What disturbed me about it was the statement that this would help in any way the algal bloom when the person managing that farm hasn’t used fertiliser in a very, very long time, and there was no algal bloom around Mundoo Island,” she said.
Other speakers at today’s hearing would include Seafood Industry South Australia executive officer Kyri Toumazos, who previously said the state “is facing probably the hardest journey that we have had in the history of commercial fishing in South Australia”.
Today’s hearing comes after testing results from December showed zero to low levels of Karenia, which causes harmful brevetoxins within the algal bloom, at all 21 of Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches.
South Australian Research and Development Institute executive director Professor Mike Steer said the results were “the best we’ve seen in a while”, with fewer fish washing up on the northern coastline.
“We don’t want to pop the champagne bottle now because we’re celebrating the fact that Karenia cristasta has disappeared, but there may be other players that will rear their ugly heads as we go through a warming summer,” he said.
Karenia cristata was revealed as the likely source of harmful brevetoxins within the algal bloom in November.
Meanwhile, increased levels of Karenia were recorded at two regional sites – Emu Bay Jetty on Kangaroo Island, which recorded 141,100 cells per litre, and Whyalla Jetty, which recorded 185,000 cells per litre.
Other regional testing locations showed mostly positive signs, with zero or low levels of Karenia across much of the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and Fleurieu Peninsula.
