Interview with ABC Radio Adelaide Breakfast

JULES SCHILLER, HOST: Now let's bring in the Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, who joins us now. Murray, now we're about to talk about your response to the algal bloom inquiry, but let's start with fuel at the moment, and we've just heard from Rowan Lee saying that you reduce the price of petrol, you'll obviously increase demand. Does that mean that you've got no worries about supply at all?

And if you do, isn't this counterintuitive? MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, good morning, Sonya and Jules. We will obviously continue to monitor the demand for fuel in different parts of the country.

But you will have heard us say repeatedly that we are continuing to get supplies of fuels into the country in the way that we have expected to do. There's been a handful of cargoes of fuel that were cancelled on their way to Australia, but they've been more than replaced. So, we've not only secured the replacement number of voyages, but we've actually increased it as well.

I think what everyone can see with their own eyes is that there has been an issue with getting fuel to all parts of the country, and that's what we've been working very closely with the states, territories and industry on. But we are continuing to receive the fuel into the country that we have expected to receive. SONYA FELDHOFF, HOST: If we do have to get to the point of underwriting some of these shipments, what's that likely to do to the already high prices?

MURRAY WATT: We wouldn't expect that there would be a massive impact on prices from underwriting those ships themselves. The action that the government took on the weekend around underwriting was really to deal with the situation where petrol importers at different times are able to take advantage of shipments that are on the seas heading from one place to another, but they don't have any assurance around the price that they'll end up being able to charge for that fuel when it gets to the country.

So what we're trying to do is to underwrite, or if you like, insure those journeys so that those importers can have some confidence that when they pay a certain price for the fuel that becomes available, that they're not going to end up incurring a loss. And that gives them that confidence to bring the fuel in in the way that we all want to see happen. JULES SCHILLER: Murray, if you're not worried about supply, why do we have a four-point plan then?

I mean, why do we have a suggestion that one day we're going to have to prioritise farming and agriculture and industry over personal use of cars? MURRAY WATT: Well, our government thinks it's prudent to be planning for the future and planning for all eventualities. As I say, as we sit here now, we don't have a concern about the supply of fuel into the country.

You will have seen us say that we've currently got around 39 days’ stock of petrol, around 30 days of diesel and jet fuel in the country. So there's not an immediate issue there in terms of supply from a national perspective. We do have more work to do to get that fuel out to all parts of the country that need it.

But also, we feel that we've got a responsibility to be looking over the horizon, not just thinking about what's happening this week or next week. But none of us know how long this war will go on, and it's prudent government to make sure that we're planning for the future as well. SONYA FELDHOFF: Yeah.

Now, we've heard as part of that four-point plan, and we're not sure whether it's at stage three or stage four, petrol rationing would be brought in. But as Federal Environment Minister, can you envisage a time where you might be directing nationally for things like free public transport? MURRAY WATT: Well, what we've said in this fuel security plan is that we will be able to adapt according to different measures and what the situation involves.

Obviously, there are some states that have already taken a decision to provide free public transport, and I'm sure different states will consider those sorts of measures as we go forward. But it is a graduated response, this fuel security plan. If there were to be serious interruptions to supply of fuel into the country, then we would move to stage three.

But we obviously all hope that this war will be resolved as soon as possible and that we can get back to supplies. But a number of us have made the point that we shouldn't really believe that this is all going to be over tomorrow. Even if the war ended tomorrow, there's going to be serious disruption of fuel supplies for some time to come, and again, that's why we're looking to plan for the future.

JULES SCHILLER: Well, yeah, The Guardian’s reporting on more bombing in Tehran at the moment, so it doesn't look like this is happening anytime soon. Let's hope it does, though. Now, Murray Watt, let's get to the algal bloom.

In the report that you released today, we learnt that both marine heat waves will increase in frequency and duration, and also our ocean economy is valued at $229 billion. With that in mind, it's really important you get this response right, because we are going to have algal blooms in the future, aren't we? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, unfortunately, as a result of climate change, we are likely to see a number of different environmental impacts, whether that be more droughts, more cyclones, more floods and more algal blooms.

I think one of the challenges that everyone faced with the algal bloom that South Australia has been experiencing is that it was an unprecedented event. So we all had to act rapidly to respond to that event as it occurred. The benefit, I guess, we've had through this experience is that I think we are, as a country, much better prepared for future events should they occur, whether it be in South Australia or elsewhere.

JULES SCHILLER: Why have you accepted only one out of the 14 recommendations with that in mind, Murray Watt? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, a couple of things there, Jules. I mean, first of all, I do really thank the Senate Committee and all of the witnesses who provided evidence to the inquiry.

Obviously, a couple of the recommendations made by the committee were matters that are really for the South Australian government to deal with, whether that be around health services or other things. But also, I think the inquiry occurred at a point in time, most of the hearings were occurring in the second half of last year. We've obviously not just waited for this report to be handed down, but we've actually started taking action with the South Australian Government as the inquiry was occurring.

So you'd be aware we have jointly funded with the South Australian Government the Summer Plan for the algal bloom. All those measures are rolling out still as we speak. But also we've taken the opportunity to work with the South Australian Government and all states and territories to lift our preparedness for these kind of things in the future.

Even on Friday, we had a meeting of the federal, state and territory environment ministers where the new South Australian Minister, Minister Bourke, presented on the bloom and the experience in South Australia. As a result of that, there's going to be a workshop held across every state and territory with us to make sure that we can share the lessons of what South Australia went through and make sure that if we were to see a similar event happen in other parts of the country, people can draw on those lessons and know what to do in a way that none of us were able to do when this unprecedented bloom hit South Australia.

SONYA FELDHOFF: The recommendation that you did accept was regarding loans to businesses, marine businesses impacted by the algal bloom. When will they become available to those businesses? MURRAY WATT: They're available now, Sonya.

So you might remember one of the things that we announced a few months ago was that we would adjust an existing mechanism in the Federal Government through the Regional Investment Corporation, which was basically about providing concessional loans to some members of the fishing industry. Those loans hadn't been available before, but now they are through that Regional Investment Corporation.

And, of course, that's just one of the financial supports that we've provided with the South Australian Government, the dining vouchers, the accommodations vouchers, all of those kind of things to try to support local businesses through what has been a very difficult event. JULES SCHILLER: And Murray Watt, just reading this report, do you accept that the whole response on most levels was too slow?

The response to the damage being done to the marine environment, to the commercial environment, and also I know Four Corners had a program implying that the response to the health problems that this algal bloom was causing was too slow as well. Is that the learning or the lesson from this algal bloom that you need to speed up your response next time? MURRAY WATT: Oh look, I wouldn't say that the response was too slow because again we were all dealing with an unprecedented event and no one had the answers for what needed to be done at that point in time when it first unfolded.

You know, to this day no one has been able to produce an answer on what could have been done differently to prevent the bloom. It’s a naturally occurring event. Even today, we can't go and put something in the water that will disperse the bloom or stop it from spreading.

Unfortunately, we are at the mercy of nature to a degree here. But without doubt, I think the work that's been done between our government and the South Australian Government over the last few months means that should a similar event happen, whether it be in South Australia or other states in the future, there would be more of a roadmap because it wouldn't be the first time that we've gone through it like this one has been.

SONYA FELDHOFF: I note recommendation two is about a new definition for declaring these kinds of things. That was one of the criticisms at the time, that we didn't declare it a natural disaster. Will there be work done on that?

MURRAY WATT: No, I wouldn't expect that would be - not in a sense of classifying these kind of events as a natural disaster in terms of funding. And you might remember we talked about this at the time. Natural disasters and the funding that's associated with them are to deal with rapid onset events, things like floods, cyclones, bushfires, things that pass through an area quickly.

This is, of course, not that kind of event. It needed a unique set of responses, different to what we would use in a bushfire or a flood or a cyclone. I've always compared it more to a drought where we have longer-term ongoing support.

JULES SCHILLER: Thank you, Murray. We do have to go, it’s almost time for the 7.30 news. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.