20 May, 2026
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:26): I move:
That the final report of the committee be noted.
I do not wish to speak for long on this, but I would like to take the opportunity to thank everybody involved with the committee. This was a unique committee in that it was a joint parliamentary inquiry. I think it demonstrated the significance of the algal bloom event that we were dealing with last year. I thank members of the committee: the members from this place, the Hon. Ian Hunter and the Hon. Nicola Centofanti, and also the members in the other place, the Hon. Nadia Clancy, Olivia Savvas MP and the Hon. Matt Cowdrey MP.
I think this was a very valuable committee that shone a light on what has been going on on our coastline and really helped all of us understand, across party lines, what has been happening and what we could do differently in the future.
In particular, I do also want to acknowledge the work of the secretariat. As always, we were very ably assisted by Leslie Guy, who played a really important role in ensuring that we moved through the committee in a prompt manner. I really appreciated Leslie's support. I also want to acknowledge the work of the researcher, Dr Merry Brown, who also worked tirelessly to get all of this work done in a very short timeframe. Let's not forget, this was a committee that was initiated towards the business end of the parliament.
I do not intend to go through all of the recommendations but there are a few that I think are worth highlighting. The committee recommended that the state government review the Local Government Disaster Recovery Assistance Arrangements in consultation with local government to better support local government access to timely disaster funding. The committee recommended that the government remove the requirement to establish economic loss as part of financial assistance to access funding under the Local Government Disaster Recovery Assistance Arrangements. We recommended a review of the South Australian State Emergency Management Plan to include a key risk reduction leader and a hazard plan for ecological disasters.
We also suggested a fishery license buyback scheme for impacted fishers. We considered providing additional funding for impacted businesses. We advocated for the development of a 10-year restocking plan to be undertaken with the industry. We pushed for a review of staff structures across agencies to ensure that any gaps in water monitoring and research were appropriately filled. We pushed to review the efficacy of the state tourism voucher scheme. We pushed for algal bloom research and remediation to have long-term funding. We also reaffirmed our commitment to net zero by 2050 and to advocate for other levels of government to adopt a similar target.
I think all of the recommendations, bar the final one, were supported by all members of the committee. I think that demonstrates—
The Hon. I.K. Hunter: That is because we were sitting around the table together, not doing it by remote.
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Yes. Some people were there remotely, if I recall, but it does demonstrate that it was a constructive and useful process. Might I say, though, and I do understand that the government was in caretaker mode and was not in a position to be able to respond at the time—I acknowledge that—but there has been crickets since the election and no response to any of the recommendations. I know we now have a new Minister for Environment, who is in this place, and I do hope the Hon. Emily Bourke will take time to engage with the recommendations of this committee.
This Labor government has a very poor track record when it comes to responding to committee recommendations, particularly when they relate to the environment. Who could forget the doomed report of the inquiry into public and active transport, which sat in the minister's desk for about three years with no response? It sat there as a hefty dust gatherer and the minister refused, quite belligerently, to ever engage with the contents of the report. It sat there for about three years and we have still seen no meaningful engagement. Indeed, another minister in this place, the Hon. Clare Scriven, refused to ever acknowledge that she had even read the report.
This government does not like to engage with committee reports and they do not like to be taken to task for their failure to do so. But I hope that this is one where they will recognise that there was cross-party support and it was not just the Greens: it was the Greens and the Liberals together. My mum always used to say, 'Blue and green should never be seen', but when we are on the same page on an issue then you know that you need to take notice because it must be important if you have blue and green together on an issue, and in this case we did come together because we recognised that it required leadership from the government.
I do hope there is some engagement from the Malinauskas government about these recommendations. I thank everybody for their involvement. I think it was a really constructive and useful committee process.
Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.