Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to offer my deepest sympathies to the hardworking South Australian men and women in the state's oyster-growing industry who've had their jobs and their industry threatened by an outbreak of Vibrio infections. Last week, it was discovered that a Vibrio bacterium had broken out in the Coffin Bay region and that 45 cases of gastroenteritis had been linked to it since September. The South Australian oyster industry has had some really tough times in recent years, including the knock-on effects of the Tasmanian Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome outbreak, which had a devastating impact, and, more recently, COVID-19. Now, just as the nation is about to reopen and there's light at the end of the tunnel after two years of no interstate or international tourism, the industry has been hit with this temporary shutdown.

Of course it's not just the growers and the shuckers; it's the transport workers and the hospitality staff and many others who are being impacted by the temporary shutdown of the oyster industry in South Australia. South Australian Oyster Growers Association executive officer Lynlee Lowe last week told the Guardian newspaper that the industry is deeply concerned but is working with a number of government agencies to try and identify the cause. There has since been speculation that issues such as strange weather patterns, unusual ocean currents and the unseasonal water temperatures that we are experiencing could have been spurred on by climate change and may have been a contributing factor. Ms Lowe said:

We are examining highly unusual environmental conditions, something which has not been seen before in SA, which have coincided with this outbreak.

This latest outbreak will no doubt put further strain on growers and the industry more broadly. I sincerely hope that the cause of the outbreak, whatever it may be, is discovered sooner rather than later.