Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo for the question. Also, for her whole time here in the parliament, she has been an absolute champion of the coastline, including beautiful Kangaroo Island in her electorate. I think the member is right to say, of the Great Southern Reef, that people will know the Great Barrier Reef on the east coast and people will know Ningaloo Reef on the west coast. But with the Great Southern Reef you're going all the way from New South Wales, around Tasmania and around Victoria, South Australia, and WA. We're talking about 8,000 kilometres. That is the size of this reef. Understandably, there's been a focus on it right now because of the algal bloom. Think of that distance being a reef of some 8,000 kilometres, but the algal bloom is 4,400 kilometres. So, the size of what's going on is extraordinary.

As the member is aware—and I'll go to monitoring in a minute—the environment minister has committed $14 million, together with South Australia, to make sure we are helping South Australia in particular, which has been so horrifically hit by this algal bloom anything. Think of people walking along the beaches in South Australia, and the great joy, what would normally be the happiest part of their day, has become the most depressing—seeing the death of marine life along those beaches.

There is significant research in conservation projects which touch on the Great Southern Reef. The projects that I'll go through are not limited to it, but a whole lot of their work is within the Great Southern Reef. For example, there's $24.5 million, and most of the sites for this are hand-fished giant kelp and shellfish reef restoration projects. It's not purely the Great Southern Reef, but most of the sites within that program are the Great Southern Reef. Similarly, there is $5½ million through the National Environmental Science Program and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation for management effectiveness and knowledge gathering across those marine parks, particularly in temperate reefs. The Bureau of Meteorology, together with the CSIRO, is also looking at having a marine heatwave forecast tool.

People would be aware that the challenge here has been three things that have come all at once. We had, from the Murray River, a nutrient runoff of extraordinary proportions, combined with a cold water upwelling and a marine heatwave. All that has caused what we've been seeing, by the best of scientific research so far. But the commitment that I certainly can give as well is that the Albanese government will continue to support the South Australian government to address this. (Time expired)

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