19 February 2026
The Joint Parliamentary Inquiry into the harmful algal bloom has handed down its report.
The multi-party committee recommended that the State Government:
- Review the Local Government Disaster Assistance Arrangements in consultation with the Local Government Association and Councils to better support Local Government access to timely disaster funding.
- Remove the requirement to establish economic loss as part of the financial assistance to access funding under the Local Government Disaster Recovery Assistance Arrangements, to enable local government to access funding for slow on-set natural disasters and ecological disasters.
- Review the South Australian State Emergency Management Plan to include a risk reduction leader and hazard plan for ecological disasters.
- Consider introducing a fishery licence buy-scheme for impacted fisheries that includes a limited number of re-entry permits (at no/low cost) for those who opt out of the industry during the buy-back scheme.
- Consider providing additional funding for impacted businesses to access mental health and financial counselling assistance.
- Work with commercial fishery industry to develop a 10 year restocking plan to support economic recovery and environmental recovery of commercially fished species.
- Undertake a long term impact assessment program of the ecological impacts across marine ecosystem monitor the long-term impacts on the marine environment resulting from the toxic algal bloom, with periodic reporting must be made publicly available.
- Review staffing structures across agencies to ensure that any gaps in water monitoring and research capacity are appropriately filled and ensure that relevant agencies are subject to a regular reporting regime.
- Review the efficacy of the state tourism voucher scheme to improve engagement with local councils and maximise participation.
- Ensure that algal bloom research and remediation is the focus of long term funding.
- Reaffirm its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and advocate for other levels of government to adopt a similar target.
The full report of the committee, including recommendations, can be viewed here: https://committees.parliament.sa.gov.au/committee/445/Joint%20Committee%20on%20Harmful%20Algal%20Blooms%20in%20South%20Australia/55/55th%20Parliament%2003%2F05%2F2022%20-%20Current/55
Quotes attributable to Committee Chair, Greens MLC Robert Simms
“The Greens are proud to have led the charge to secure a parliamentary inquiry into the bloom and the multi-party committee has made some useful recommendations for the next State Government to action. In particular, it’s clear that the criteria for local governments to unlock fundings needs to be broadened for ecological disasters in the future and the lead agency needs to be clearly identified from the outset to avoid confusion. The long-term future of funding for research and remediation must also be guaranteed and there needs to be an investment in long term monitoring of the environmental impacts of the bloom.”
“It seems that many of the State Government’s existing processes and procedures weren’t set up to manage an ecological disaster of this magnitude, so there’s some clear recommendations around how this can be improved for the future.”
“The Greens will be closely monitoring the Government’s response to the bloom in the next parliamentary term and doing everything we can to ensure the full suite of recommendations are implemented.”
“I am concerned however that there was not majority support for findings that are critical of the State Government’s response. This is a serious oversight given the weight of evidence presented to the committee suggests that the State Government was too slow to respond to the algal bloom and there were significant gaps in data collection and communication with key stakeholders. It is telling that the Opposition and Green members of the committee reached similar conclusions about the Government’s response– as reflected in the dissenting statements.”