I want to talk tonight about two significant environmental issues. The first one is the failure of the Albanese government on the algal bloom calamity occurring in South Australian waters at the moment. The second one is my deep concern over the lack of a funding commitment for koala chlamydia vaccines.
I rise to remember a titan of the surf lifesaving movement, a member of my community who, sadly, passed after almost a decade in a wheelchair. Dave Zemek was an absolute giant. Unfortunately, some years ago, he dived into the water at Mermaid Beach Surf Club, hit the sandbank or a piece of flotsam in the water and snapped his spinal cord.
Our young people represent the future, and they deserve our attention, our guidance and, of course, our support. It’s a great privilege to be going into my second term as the shadow minister for youth, and I want to highlight that the new Opposition Leader, Sussan Ley, opted to elevate youth into the shadow cabinet so that young people have a louder voice when it comes to Coalition policy.
Many members in this House may not know this—I will start with a small snapshot of my life—but I grew up in South Australia and spent my childhood playing on the beaches of the Yorke Peninsula, crab fishing in Ardrossan, eating King George whiting for breakfast and flattening out calamari with beer bottles. Mum used to fry them in the pan for breakfast, freshly caught in the Gulf of St Vincent.
TOM CONNELL:
Let’s return to that situation in Gaza. It’s been described as the strongest condemnation yet from the Australian government on the Israeli government, saying more aid needs to be let through. Joining me now is Shadow Environment Minister Angie Bell. Thank you for your time. We’ll get to your portfolio in a moment but what do you make of this shift? Is it time for Israel to stop with excuses about difficulty of getting aid through and just make it happen.
ANGIE BELL:
Well, thanks, Tom, for having me on your show. I’m sure that Australians around the country are horrified at the scenes that we’re seeing coming out of Gaza.
Scientists have once again called for government action on the South Australian algal bloom that has resulted in over 14,000 dead marine creatures.
They have requested an immediate investment of $10 million to research the impact of the bloom and inform plans for the next occurrence.
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.
RHIANNON ELSTON:
For more on this, Shadow Environment Minister Angie Bell joins me live. Minister, good morning to you, or Shadow Minister, I should say. As we have heard, the federal government has pledged $14 million to help South Australians affected by the algae crisis. What’s your response to this?
ANGIE BELL:
Well, Rhiannon, the government has been caught out, flat-footed on this. They have been too slow to respond to the people of South Australia and the algal bloom that’s affecting our Great Southern Reef.
It is so close to our marine parks down there in South Australia, and the eminent scientists down in South Australia have been the government for 18 months for funding to monitor the algal bloom and they have been denied across two Albanese governments. It’s just not good enough.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
The Greens have been arguing for a climate trigger in the laws that would force the Federal Minister to take climate impact into consideration. They’re going to be presenting that as a private member’s bill tomorrow. I want to get the opposition’s perspective now and bring in the Shadow Environment Minister, Angie Bell. Welcome to the program.
ANGIE BELL:
Great to be with you, PK.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
What are your reflections on today and the way that the pomp, the ceremony, the speech from the Governor-General that we think very carefully about the tone about anger in the debate? How did that land on you?
Today’s visit to South Australia by the Environment Minister is an extraordinary admission that the government has been completely flat-footed in its response to the spread of toxic algal bloom.
This last minute dash on the eve of parliament’s resumption is a last second window dressing exercise to say he has visited.
Minister Watt claimed as recently as Friday that the spread of toxic algal bloom in South Australia – which is devastating waters adjacent to Commonwealth Marine Parks – is a state issue, when trying to justify his decision to send only a departmental official to witness the situation.