Press conference, Adelaide

PETER MALINAUSKAS, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you for joining us here at the State Administration Centre following our Algal Bloom Taskforce meeting. I’m very pleased this morning to be here with the Federal Minister for the Environment, Murray Watt. Obviously, the South Australian Government’s been actively engaged with the Commonwealth throughout this, but particularly in recent weeks as we finalise the details of the summer plan. Obviously, we are developing that summer plan in conjunction with the Commonwealth, and we're in the process of finalising that with the view of having the summer plan released publicly this month, which I've committed to repeatedly and we remain very much on track to achieving.

I want to thank the Federal Government for their active engagement in this. There is layers of effort in regards to the summer plan and some elements, quite frankly, are rather complex. And we're able to have the Minister here in person today, which has always got an advantage to it, and I thank Murray for it. It's great to be here with Lucy Hood, the Minister for the Environment and Mike Steer, Executive Director of SARDI. And Mike will provide his regular update after Murray says a few words in just a moment.

But one thing that we have brought forward that we want to announce today is the release of a hotline available for all South Australians. Not every South Australian is connected to the internet and looking at the website through sa.gov.au to get information. And we did want to provide a hotline so that people can engage with government, get efficient information by picking up the phone and asking questions. Sometimes face-to-face or a voice on the other end of the telephone can provide comfort and assurance about public information, and we want to make that available sooner rather than later. The number is 1800 774 779. Any South Australian can call it seven days a week, nine to five, and ask questions about the algal bloom or get information that they might find particularly useful. There are people there ready to take people's calls. The hotline will be available in the next 24 hours. No matter what your question or query is, if you're engaging in good faith, we'll do our best to provide you the answers that we can with official, accurate, science-based information, which is, I think, really important now more than ever before. So that number again is 1800 774 779. Any South Australian can call it.

You know, one of the challenges with the algal bloom is getting accurate information out into the community. When we're trying to compete with conspiracies on social media, that's always a little bit difficult. If people are looking for a source of information that is official and that they can trust, we would encourage them to go to the sa.gov.au website or call the algal bloom hotline to get information. It's really important.

I'll now invite Minister Watt to say a few words, Mike will provide an update, and then all four of us are more than happy to answer any questions or queries that you may have.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Thanks very much, Premier, and thanks for the opportunity to join your weekly briefing this week. Obviously, we've been staying in regular contact over the last few months about the situation here in South Australia, but it was really valuable to be able to attend this week's briefing in person, get the latest information about how things are looking and also, of course, to continue our discussions about the summer plan that I know you and your team have been putting a lot of work into. I've said before each time I've come to Adelaide that the Federal Government stands ready to support the South Australian Government and South Australians as we deal with this ongoing event. That remains the case. Obviously, we're reaching the concluding stages with the state government around the summer plan, and I know it won't be too much longer before we'll have some more to say about that. So, as I say, we remain committed to assist South Australia to get through this difficult event that is going a lot longer than any of us had hoped it would. But again, thanks for the opportunity to be part of this today.

PROFESSOR MIKE STEER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SARDI: Good morning, everyone. The quick update, the algal bloom is still persisting in the areas predominantly around the metropolitan coastline from Northern Gulf St Vincent down to about Brighton, is probably the most high-density area. We still have it persisting along the west coast of the Spencer Gulf as well, from about around the Arno Bay to Lucky Bay area. We are seeing some evidence of declining cell counts and chlorophyll counts in areas around northern Spencer Gulf. So the cuttlefish, for example, are still in an area that doesn't have any Karenia at all, which is a great sign. We're still maintaining a level of surveillance through our satellite imagery and our oceanography and are tracking the brevetoxin levels in our commercial shellfish production areas. There are still promising trends of the brevetoxin levels going down in parts of Yorke Peninsula, and we're monitoring that on a weekly basis.

In total, we've got 94 sites now that we're regularly monitoring. These are coastal sites, and those data are updated weekly. Of those, eight sites have increased in terms of their cell density, 11 sites have decreased. So this is an area now where we've got more prominence of decreasing cell counts amongst those sites, and 75 of those have been steady. Many of those are zero or negligible cell counts. We've also expanded our sampling to offshore areas. We've had about 40 offshore areas, offshore stations rather, spread across Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf, that looks at both the surface water and the bottom water to get an idea of how the Karenia is associated with the offshore conditions. The results so far have indicated that there is a greater propensity or greater concentration of Karenia on the coastal environments, not so much offshore, which is really consistent with what we see around the world, particularly Florida, where there's a clear spatial segregation in that bloom, which means that the concentration of the bloom is associated with that coastal environment, and the further you go offshore that impact is diminished, which is really encouraging information for us to consider as we understand more about what the impact of this bloom is more broadly to the ecosystem.

I'll leave it there. I’m open for any questions.

JOURNALIST: Obviously school holidays are well in swing. Do you have any changes of advice or advice to anyone who's going to be near or at the beach with their children over the next week or so?

MIKE STEER: Well, the advice has been consistent through SA Health that if the conditions are calm and the water is still and relatively clear, then it will be great for everybody's mental health and physical health to go and visit the beaches.

JOURNALIST: There's pictures today or videos of really bad foam at Glenelg. A woman has put on her pages that she's got a respirator on. I guess on one hand it's good because they're following the advice, but on the other side it's pretty shocking for people to see the beaches like that and so much foam.

MIKE STEER: Yeah, well this is a more frequent event that we're seeing. We know that the algae are present along the metropolitan coast. We know naturally that we get foaming through organic matter that's in the coastal environments that’s churned up by swell, chop and onshore winds. So there is an expectation that in those conditions we will see foaming events. And I think I mentioned at the last press conference that given our understanding of where the algae is and how it's moving down the coast and the likely onshore winds and conditions, then we will see that event. But sea foaming is something that occurs naturally around the state. You ask any surfer and they would have encountered foaming around most of our high energy environments.

JOURNALIST: Will that foam in Glenelg be tested for brevetoxins?

MIKE STEER: No, there's no need to.

JOURNALIST: Why not?

MIKE STEER: Because we already get the information that we need from the cell counts, and there's a really strong correlation between the number of cells in the water and the number of brevetoxins. So we already get the information that we need.

JOURNALIST: Are we any closer to seeing our local testing facility up and running?

MIKE STEER: Yes, we are. It's advancing. So they're actually working at rapid pace, which is fantastic because it's been a bit of a struggle for us to rely on getting the information from New Zealand. My understanding is that they're likely to be accredited by the end of the month.

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of the cell count testing, the sites that go up and down, you told the purpose of that is to try and get, like, a long term picture of the algal bloom. Has that cell count testing provided that yet, or what's it sort of saying?

MIKE STEER: So this is providing really good information for us to get a working understanding of what this algal bloom is doing in response to the environment. So, we're seeing it boom and bust on the basis of weather conditions, tidal conditions, oceanographic conditions. So, as we’re going through and doing our routine measurements, particularly over the 94 sites on the coast and now expanding to the offshore environment, we’re armed with information and data that’s going to help us to be more prepared in the future about what to expect if this happens again. But also, the information, for us to then detect what the relationship of this bloom is with the changing environment. So, this information will be very foundational for our understanding of how to deal with this into future.

JOURNALIST: And just to be clear on the Glenelg foam, even though you're not testing for the brevetoxins, the health advice in that situation is the same, it's bring your puffer along if you’re asthmatic?

MIKE STEER: The health advice is consistent.

JOURNALIST: What about our bubble curtain there in the Upper Spencer Gulf? Has there been any change to how that's operating, and are you worried at all that the bloom is moving up towards where the cuttlefish are?

MIKE STEER: There's no change. It hasn't been operating. We haven't had to turn it on. It stands there ready if we need it. The counts aren't elevating to a level that is concerning us at this stage. However, we're still maintaining a level of surveillance and we have teams out there, actually, assessing the rates of hatching of those cuttlefish. So, once we get over a certain threshold then we know that there'll be no need for that type of [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: And they're hatching now? Is that all going to plan? That's all fine?

MIKE STEER: Yeah, as nature intended.

JOURNALIST: Might just get the Premier, if that's all right? What's prompted the Government to establish this hotline, and is it being funded from that 28 million funding package?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: The second part of your question I’ll take on notice. I think it might be new money, but I’ll have - I think it actually might be a new allocation of funds, and I'm happy to get what that number is for you. In respect to why we’re doing this, well, part of the problem with the algal bloom, there are two challenges we're dealing with concurrently. There's the algal bloom itself and the impact it’s having, which is real and self-evident when you walk along the beach. The beach clean-up crews that we've been rolling out that we announced some weeks ago, that work is actually going quite well. The tragedy, of course, is that while people might be enjoying better amenity along the beach by not having dead marine life, that's only because it's being collected. There are still substantial volumes of marine life that is rolling up on our shores every day.

Part of the challenge, though, with the algal bloom is the perception of the algal bloom as much as the algal bloom itself. Because we know that the vast majority of the state's coastline is unaffected. Even in areas where the algal bloom was, it no longer is, and hasn't been for some time. Examples of that are on Kangaroo Island or on beaches such as Goolwa or Middleton or Waitpinga — they haven't had the algae now for weeks, yet we still hear, anecdotally, that businesses in the Southern Fleurieu are experiencing the impacts of the algal bloom.

I share those stories with you because it's a demonstration of the fact that the perception of the bloom can have as consequential an impact as the bloom itself, at least in respect to the economic environment, which is why getting accurate information out in the community is really important. You know, the mainstream media has probably been the best source of information for people. We put a lot of things online officially in the website. But there's a lot of misinformation in the social media world and we want to provide, you know, if someone sees something on social media and they're not too sure if it's accurate or not, one thing they can do, they can go to the Government's website or they can pick up the phone and ask someone. And we just want to be able to provide, you know, a personal degree of communication to those people who've got active enquiries through a hotline.

JOURNALIST: How will it be staffed?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: By people who have been trained and have got the information, the official advice and they'll be public servants.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned in your earlier comments that this initiative was actually brought forward. Was this something that was part of the summer plan and now you think there's a greater urgency for the hotline?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Frankly, it's about capacity. So, there's a number of things that we're doing in the summer plan that we have to build up capacity for, that takes planning and execution and funding. The team that have been working on all of this said, oh, we actually can bring the hotline online sooner than what we otherwise anticipated because the resources are there, so why not get it going? So, we just thought we'll announce it -

JOURNALIST: With the summer plan, I suppose, what's the hold up on that? What are we still waiting for?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: The work to be completed. I mean, this isn't some trivial exercise. This is a really complex new public policy challenge that has no precedent. It certainly has no precedent in the summer months, and there are a number of moving elements to it, and we want to get it right. And we're not going to release it until we've done the work and got it right, and that just takes time.

And look, let me tell you, as Chief Beattie will attest to, at a political architecture of Government we're driving everyone really hard to get this done as quickly as possible. But we also want to make sure it's accurate because I'm not going to make the mistake of some of my political opponents who have rushed to conclusions and jumped the gun only to be found wanting. Accuracy matters here and getting the work done thoroughly is really important. We said we're going to release it in October, we are going to release it in October, and that's well in advance of the start of summer.

JOURNALIST: Last week you discussed the sort of the challenge around daily messaging of beach closures and whatnot.

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: Is the hotline sort of a solution to that? Or are you still contemplating daily updates on-

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Well, I was sort of explaining the challenge that we've got, that we have to reasonably address, because we want to make sure that the nature of the information that is provided is accurate, timely, but also doesn't have the unintended consequences in terms of human behaviour, and getting that balance right is important.

We think that there are ways that we can provide that information on a more regular drumbeat that will be actually practical and be useful for people in the community, and that's what we're working on as part of the summer plan. In fact, we went around that in substantial detail with Minister Watt today as well. So, we haven't said we're not doing that. We just want to make sure we get it right.

In respect to this, this is just a resource that was stood up earlier than we anticipated. And, you know, if we've got a way we can help the community sooner rather than later, we're going to do it. This is an example of that.

JOURNALIST: And given the Federal Minister's involvement in the summer plan, is there new funding that's going to have to be connected to this as well?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: There is going to have to be funding allocated to this because this is new effort. This is new policy measures. These are things that we are going to be doing that we haven't done before. So yes, it requires new resources and I'm very hopeful that the Commonwealth will be a good partner in that regard, and that's obviously the nature of the discussions we're having.

JOURNALIST: Has that 28 mil then all been allocated? Is there -

PETER MALINAUSKAS: It's all been allocated, yes.

JOURNALIST: And just on the call centre, do you know how many -

PETER MALINAUSKAS: It might not have been all expended because there are some elements that are still being expended, but it's all been allocated.

JOURNALIST: Do you know how many call takers there will be in the call centre?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: No, we don't know [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: Just the vouchers, they've obviously been hugely popular. Is there any consideration for a second round?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Yes, and we made that clear. We made it clear that we wanted to get the execution right on these vouchers. We've had a lot of positive feedback from not just recipients of the vouchers, but more importantly the businesses that the vouchers will be applied in. Bookings are happening at a greater volume than would otherwise be the case, and that's a really good thing. What we've said from the outset is that we'll assess the performance of the algal bloom and then extend programs like that, should the algal bloom persist. And it's persisting so, yes, that's something we're turning our mind to.

JOURNALIST: Can I just get, Minister Watt if that's alright? Can you just explain, I understand there was a federal election, but why were you not briefed until July on the algal bloom given we had dead fish washing up on our beaches in March?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I was briefed before July. I know there were some media reports last week saying that I received a written briefing in July. Just to remind you, I became the Minister for Environment in mid-May. As has been reported, I was engaged with the then Environment Minister, Susan Close, well before July, as was my department, working with the South Australian Government as well. Obviously, and the Premier has made the point that, really, through May and June the advice being received by governments was that the event was likely to dissipate because of winter storms. By July, it became clear that wasn't going to be the case. And so both the South Australian and the Federal Government's response efforts escalated since then. But I can assure you that I was very much engaged in this well before July.

JOURNALIST: In fairness, those reports came from a Senate hearing, they weren't just from media reports. So can you confirm that you were aware of the algal bloom and the impact it was having on the South Australian coast when you went to that ocean conference in July, I think it was?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, of course I was. I’d been talking with Susan Close well before attending that conference on behalf of the Australian Government. The question that was asked in the Senate committee last week related to when I was formally briefed and the correct answer was provided. I was given a written brief on July 11, I think it was, but the Premier himself has acknowledged that I was engaged in this well before that date.

JOURNALIST: What was the nature of those conversations with the South Australian Government in May, in terms of the algal bloom? Did it convey any sense of urgency about the crisis?

MURRAY WATT: Well certainly, my recollection, I mean this is going back a little while, but my recollection of those conversations was that the algal bloom was certainly causing problems. It was uncertain exactly what effect it would have. But at that point in time, the expectation was that winter storms would intervene and dissipate the event, but to be kept under review, as it was. And as I say, it became clear to everyone by early July that this, unfortunately, was not going to go away. And that's why more intensive discussions started with the South Australian Government around that time about what sort of support was needed, and you'll remember I visited here in about mid-July I think it was to announce the Federal Government's share of that package. So as the situation has escalated, so has the government response and that's why we're in discussions now about a summer plan because, of course, this event is still here.

JOURNALIST: Are you still committed to providing any money requested by the state government as you've previously said?

MURRAY WATT: Well, what I've always said is that we would consider any request made by the South Australian Government and that we’ll stand by South Australia. We've done that already. We've funded half of that $28 million package that was announced in July. You'll remember that the Prime Minister announced further federal funding when he visited a few weeks ago. We recognise there's a continuing need, and that’s exactly why I'm here today is to better understand exactly what sort of support is required so that I can brief Cabinet.

JOURNALIST: Are you going to the beaches today?

MURRAY WATT: I will be inspecting some of the beaches today.

JOURNALIST: Which one?

MURRAY WATT: My staff have got that. I haven’t dug in at that level of detail.

JOURNALIST: Just on another matter, Minister, there's been a report in Western Australia today about the North West Shelf gas project and one of the lead scientists there arguing that the WA Government downplayed his rock art findings. What is your reaction to that report?

MURRAY WATT: Look, I'll leave it for that individual to say what he wants. What my role in this project has been to determine whether the impact of extending an existing gas plant would unacceptably impact on ancient rock art in Western Australia. That's the question that I had before me. You may have seen that in announcing my decision a couple of weeks ago, we imposed 48 strict additional conditions beyond those that had already been imposed by the Western Australian Government. And on that basis, I was confident that the ongoing activity of that gas plant would not unacceptably impact that rock art. So that's been my role in it. Others can make their own commentary.

JOURNALIST: But if he's saying that the report advice that he was providing to the Federal Government was not accurate or was downplaying his science, surely that concerns you, that the advice you're being provided might not be correct?

MURRAY WATT: Well, if you have a look at the statement of reasons that I issued with that decision, I said that was one important part of the evidence that I considered, but not the only part. That was a report that was provided to the Western Australian Government that was then provided to us. But I'm sure that if you spoke to some of the other scientists, including the chief scientist who was involved in that report, they'd probably have a different answer to the matters that have been reported in the last couple of days.

JOURNALIST: And just one final one on that. Do you agree with the WA Premier that current industry on the Burrup is not impacting the rock art?

MURRAY WATT: The evidence that was presented to me, including in that Western Australian Government commissioned report, was that provided we attached those additional conditions that I did impose, that that won't present an unacceptable risk to the rock art. What we've been about doing is, of course, protecting the environment, protecting First Nations cultural heritage, and protecting jobs and we think that we've got the balance right.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask you quickly about the triple-zero guardian, when will legislation for that be introduced to Parliament?

MURRAY WATT: So just to give you a little bit of background on this, last year the former Minister for Communications directed ACMA, the independent regulatory agency, to require real-time triple-zero outage reporting and that work has been completed. What you're asking about is a separate matter which is the legislation to establish what's known as a triple-zero custodian. That is more of an oversight role rather than fixing a particular incident, they're the kind of matters that ACMA investigates and the Minister immediately directed ACMA to investigate that when this recent issue occurred. My advice is that legislation is being finalised, but it's important to recognise that oversight role wouldn't have done anything different about this particular outage. This is on Optus to explain what happened and what they're going to do to fix it.

JOURNALIST: But it does monitor those sort of incidents? It can’t -

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, it provides an ongoing oversight role around these sorts of incidents. But the ACMA is the regulatory agency which is now investigating this specific incident and will make recommendations.

JOURNALIST: Do you think that this triple-zero custodian, there was grounds for it to come in sooner? I understand that an independent manager was recommended to the Government to come in October 2024. Do you think that this should have come sooner, and we've had to wait for so many bad incidents for this to even come in?

MURRAY WATT: Well, as I say, due to action that was taken by the former Minister, we have now completed the work around the reporting of these in a real-time basis, these sorts of incidents. What I can say is that the establishment of this custodian would not have altered what occurred with the Optus outage. That is about Optus' behaviour and activities, and that's why it needs to be investigated and fixed.

JOURNALIST: Just on Coalition today now investigating a new nuclear policy, what's your reaction to that?

MURRAY WATT: Well the Australian people have spoken. This was a headline policy at the most recent federal election, and the Australian people voted in favour of a renewable energy future, not a nuclear power future. What we consistently get advice on as governments is that the cheapest form of new power that we can possibly provide is renewable power backed up by gas and backed up by batteries. And that's why that is the direction that our Government is going on. And that's the position that's been endorsed by the Australian people.

JOURNALIST: So there's no scope for any sort of altered nuclear plan here in Australia?

MURRAY WATT: No, we're committed -

JOURNALIST: As seen over in Europe, as seen in America?

MURRAY WATT: No, we're committed to delivering the cheapest, cleanest form of energy possible, and all of the experts tell us that in Australia that means solar, wind and batteries.

JOURNALIST: Can I just get the Premier on one more? Just a few words on Jane Goodall and the legacy that she leaves, given she has visited SA a few times.

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Yeah. Jane Goodall was an extraordinary woman and she's done a lot for the zoological community and animals more importantly. Her legacy is profound and she'll be lost, but her legacy won't be. She'll be remembered as an extraordinary woman who was at the frontier of her work, and many South Australians, indeed the world has been a beneficiary of it.

JOURNALIST: Premier just very quickly. Have you had a chance to interrogate the Commonwealth's latest public health funding package?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Oh, right. Of course I have, yeah.

JOURNALIST: What was your - what's your position on it?

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Look, we're in a negotiation around the country with the Federal Government regarding the national health funding agreement. It's a complex and important piece of work. The Federal Government has made clear, and they've been consistent about this, that they want to deal with the National Health Reform Agreement and also the NDIS reforms that are required simultaneously, and I think that's reasonable. It's about making sure that we get the funding levels at the appropriate height, or level, I guess, to get the right outcomes for people. People often interpret these negotiations as a debate over money between state and the Commonwealth. I think it's actually more than that. This is actually about how we best calibrate resources to get the right outcomes for our country in a health setting, particularly as we confront an ageing population. The demands on hospital systems around the country is growing. Every hospital system around the nation is massively under the pump, which means we need to increase capacity and have the right resources in the right places to be able to tackle the challenge of an ageing population. Aged care is a really good example of that. There are 280 people, as we speak, in South Australian hospital beds that don't need to be there. They're stuck there because there's no aged care bed for them. These negotiations present an opportunity to confront that challenge and do something about it. I know the Commonwealth wants to, they've already got substantial legislation through the Federal Parliament seeking to tackle the aged care challenge. But these negotiations are important too and we're just going to get on with the task and focus on what matters most here, and that’s getting the right outcome for the people.