The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says $14m in federal funding is \u201cnowhere near what will be needed\u201d to support South Australian communities dealing with the state\u2019s algal bloom catastrophe.<\/p>\n
The environment minister, Murray Watt, announced the federal assistance package on Monday<\/a> while visiting South Australia to see the impacts of a toxic algal bloom that for months has caused mass deaths of marine life across the state\u2019s beaches.<\/p>\n Watt said the bloom and its impacts were \u201cincredibly disturbing\u201d. But he stopped short of declaring the event a natural disaster, saying the catastrophe did not meet the relevant definitions under the federal natural disaster framework.<\/p>\n Hanson-Young said the criteria used to declare such events should be examined.<\/p>\n As parliament returns, the South Australia-based senator also said she would push for an inquiry into the disaster to examine issues including the federal and state government responses to the event.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Australians have been crying out for weeks and months for federal action on this, so I\u2019m glad to see the federal environment minister finally get to South Australia,\u201d Hanson-Young told the ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing on Monday. \u201c$14 million is good but nowhere near what will be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if the bloom was a national disaster, the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, said, \u201cobviously it\u2019s one of significance\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we need to broaden those definitions, and as a parliament we should do that,\u201d he told Sky News on Monday. He also urged Labor to pursue other measures that would provide financial support to agricultural workers affected.<\/p>\n On Monday night, Anthony Albanese said federal funding had been timed \u201cappropriately\u201d given the event was unfolding \u201cprimarily in state waters\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEvents do occur in our environment,\u201d the prime minister told ABC\u2019s 7.30. \u201cWhat is important is that there be a response. We\u2019re responding, giving support to the South Australian government.\u201d<\/p>\n The bloom of the microalgae species karenia mikimotoi was identified off South Australia\u2019s Fleurieu Peninsula in March, and grew to more than 4400 sq km, close to the size of Kangaroo Island.<\/p>\n It has been breaking up in recent weeks, spreading north into Spencer Gulf, south into the Coorong wetlands and along Adelaide\u2019s beaches in Gulf St Vincent into the Port River, killing tens of thousands of marine animals.<\/p>\n The money is likely to be used to pay for the clean-up of dead marine life from SA\u2019s beaches, support affected businesses, bolster community awareness about the bloom and invest in science and research to better understand the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no doubting whatsoever that this is a very serious environmental event facing South Australia,\u201d Watt told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in uncharted waters here.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if the bloom and its impact should be declared a natural disaster, Watt said it was not possible under the existing definition despite calls from scientists, the Greens and SA\u2019s Labor premier.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Clear Air Australia<\/p>\n Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n A natural disaster declaration would trigger special federal assistance measures to support individuals, businesses and communities in their recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have managed outside the usual natural disaster framework to marshal the type of resources that South Australia has asked for,\u201d Watt said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the difficulties has been understanding exactly what its impacts are and what sort of response is required.<\/p>\n \u201cWe won\u2019t solve this overnight and we are, to some extent, relying on weather conditions to help disperse the algal bloom.\u201d<\/p>\n Darcie Carruthers, the South Australia-based nature campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation, welcomed Watt\u2019s funding announcement but said it was overdue and more needed to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cThe federal government needs to focus on the causes of this economic and environmental disaster to prevent it from happening again,\u201d Carruthers said.<\/p>\n \u201cA marine heatwave and the water from the disastrous 2023 Murray Darling floods are both factors that have allowed the algae to take hold and both warming waters and floods are supercharged by burning fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Gamblin, the chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the devastating bloom shows \u201cnowhere is immune from the accelerating impacts of climate change\u201d, and called for \u201c major coordinated response that matches the scale of this emergency\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis unnatural, shocking event needs all hands on deck,\u201d Gamblin said.<\/p>\n The algal bloom is naturally occurring, but the state\u2019s environment department has listed potential contributing factors including a marine heatwave that started in 2024, when sea temperatures were about 2.5C warmer than usual, combined with calm conditions.<\/p>\n Another was the 2022\/23 River Murray flood that washed extra nutrients into the sea followed by an unprecedented cold-water upwelling in the summer of 2023\/24 that brought nutrient-rich water to the surface.<\/p>\n Marine ecologist Dr Dominic McAfee said the mortality in most heavily affected areas was \u201cextremely confronting\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like almost everything has died,\u201d McAfee, from the University of Adelaide\u2019s Environment Institute, told AAP.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impacts we\u2019re seeing now could just be the start of something more prolonged.\u201d<\/p>\n