South Australia: Algal Bloom

Former treasury secretary Ken Henry said just last week that Australia’s environment protection laws have both failed to stop the degradation of Australia’s natural environment and held back economic growth, and they are undermining productivity. It’s true that, under the Albanese government, not only are Australians worse off, with soaring cost-of-living pressures, but Australia’s environment is also worse off.

We only need to look at Labor’s failure on the algal bloom in South Australia, which has been blooming for months and months. On the eve of parliament returning, Minister Watt made a mercy dash to South Australia regarding the toxic algal bloom crisis. Scientists in South Australia have been raising the alarm for over 18 months on this, and, according to the Guardian, 13,800 marine creatures have died since March of this year alone, and over 400 species have been affected. Not only has our precious marine life been impacted but the local economy in South Australia has also been severely impacted. It could have been addressed much, much sooner.

South Australians and all Australians should be very disappointed in the Albanese government. This is an environmental failing of epic proportions. If our precious marine life started washing up dead on the Great Barrier Reef, there’s no doubt the minister would have acted within days. They’ve failed to listen, they’ve failed to act for 18 months and they’ve let this algal bloom go from bad to worse.