Transcript – ABC North and West – Breakfast with Tom Mann

Angie Bell MP

Shadow Minister for the Environment

Shadow Minister for Youth

Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT

ABC North and West – Breakfast with Tom Mann

21 July 2025

Subjects: Labor’s failure to deliver during SA’s algal bloom crisis.

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………

TOM MANN:

Now, we have been hearing in the news this morning that the Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, is set to travel to Adelaide today to take a closer look at the algal bloom and consider the role the federal government could play in supporting those impacted.

But the federal opposition are arguing that the government is well behind on the situation and that the government should have acted much earlier when calls were first made for a monitoring system for South Australian waters. I spoke earlier this morning with the opposition spokesperson for the environment, Angie Bell.

ANGIE BELL:

Absolutely have been following that. But I have to say the Labor government has taken 18 months to even send a departmental official down to South Australia, and I think the message there is that South Australians need to look at what Labor does, not what they say.

They are all spin and no substance when it comes to their environmental talk. And they talk a lot about their environmental credentials. But the fact is that it has been, as I said, over 18 months since those scientists, eminent scientists in South Australia wrote to, gosh, the previous Environment Minister, Minister Plibersek, about the algal bloom, and it’s just not good enough.

TOM MANN:

When you say 18 months, this was when first warnings and concerns about, you know, the scientists, from my understanding, wanted a monitoring system in those waters. Because from my understanding, the algal bloom situation really was first observed back in March, which is four months and still a substantial amount of time. But you would have expected the government to really jump on when those scientists were first ringing the potential warning bells.

ANGIE BELL:

Well, we’ve been urging, I’ve been urging the minister to hear out the scientists and to grant the funding. It’s a very modest amount and it’s a reasonable request. It’s only $40 million over 10 years. And I think if you compare that to the amount of money they want to spend on COP, for example, that is a very small ask and would allow South Australian scientists to monitor this algal bloom. The damage that we’ve seen in South Australia is absolutely devastating.

TOM MANN:

The monitoring, of course, is an element of that and $40 million is what was being asked for that. But we are in the midst of it now, and there is a lot of uncertainty at this time about how long it will last, what can be done to mitigate the situation, if anything. At this point in time, what would you like to see from the federal government as a further response? We’ve heard from the Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, that he is willing to work with the state government. What do you think an adequate response would be from the federal government?

ANGIE BELL:

I’d like to see more leadership on this issue and the opposition is ready to work with the federal government on this particular environmental issue. I certainly wouldn’t be ignoring the scientists in South Australia. It has taken the minister too long to go down to South Australia and listen and see for himself the damage on the Great Southern Reef. I mean, if this was happening in Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef, I would expect the government to turn up and listen, and that hasn’t been the case.

TOM MANN:

We’ve heard calls, including from Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, that this should be declared a national emergency. Would you be supportive of that sort of measure?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, my colleague Ross Caddell is the Emergency Management Shadow Minister and I would leave that certainly with him. However, this is firmly in the lap of the government and this is a decision for the Labor government who talks big on the environment and delivers nothing.

TOM MANN:

And so, you know, this is being linked to climate change to a degree. Should we have more ambitious environmental goals? Is that something that is being talked about within the Liberal or Coalition Party room?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, certainly we’re back in Canberra now and the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley has said that our policies are up for debate. We will be doing that and working through our position on a number of policies during this few first weeks in Parliament and beyond.

TOM MANN:

I understand you were recently on the Yorke Peninsula. What were your observations from your recent visit?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I will be visiting the Yorke Peninsula shortly and I’ll be seeing firsthand. I have planned that for a number of days now to come down to South Australia. I think I’ve been ahead of the curve when it comes to the minister, who has bowed to pressure because the parliament is sitting this week and is down on a fleeting visit down there to have a look for the damage himself.

Because he’s running away from the pressure that the parliament placed on him this week here in Canberra and so, I understand that South Australians are distraught when it comes to the carnage that’s happening down there on the Great Southern Reef and the Albanese Labor government needs to step up.

TOM MANN:

And one of the elements of this has been, in a sense, that if this was happening on, for example, the eastern states, that there would have been a quicker escalation of the degree of concern around this issue. Have people been talking about this? Have you been hearing about this in Canberra and the eastern states? When did you first become aware of how acute the situation is here in South Australia?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I think it comes back to, Tom, the fact that the government has known about this for 18 months and hasn’t been down to South Australia. The Minister was patting himself on the back as recently as Friday, saying that he had sent a departmental representative down to South Australia. It’s not good enough. We want to see national leadership on our environment. And Labor simply is all spin and no substance.

TOM MANN:

Angie Bell, thank you for your time.

ANGIE BELL:

My pleasure.

ENDS.