Ecologist Faith Coleman Resigns Amid Political Interference Claims

A prominent ecologist has formally stepped down from two government algal bloom panels, saying the South Australia Government’s approach has been more “adversarial” than “collaborative”.

Faith Coleman last week suggested there was political interference in investigating the algal bloom’s causes — claims which senior SA public servants have rejected — last week before the parliament’s Joint Committee on Harmful Algal Blooms in South Australia.

Since then, Environment Minister Lucy Hood has accepted Dr Coleman’s resignation from the SA’s HAB (Harmful Algal Bloom) Scientific Advisory Committee and SA Algae Bloom Reference Group.

In her letter of resignation, the scientist said SA Premier Peter Malinauskas and Ms Hood “demonstrated that they are intending to take an adversarial, rather than collaborative approach, under the newly-restructured cabinet”.

“This included using my membership on these committees as a reason to discount my testimony, rather than an opportunity to collaborate to find a solution,” she wrote.

Speaking to the ABC, Dr Coleman said she was asked to be on those committees by the previous environment minister Susan Close, who had “taken a strong collaborative approach”.

She said some of the statements made by Ms Hood to the media in the past week “didn’t feel particularly collaborative”.

Dr Coleman told the committee last week that “on three occasions” she had been told by department staff from different agencies that they had “been asked not to investigate the causes of the algal bloom until after the election”.

“Although I’m not providing written evidence of those conversations, it didn’t mean it didn’t happen,” Dr Coleman said today.

“To ring me up for seven minutes as the minister did a few minutes after I gave my testimony, and then not contact me or even discuss with me the potential of my resignation didn’t feel particularly collaborative.”

When asked if she had taken an adversarial approach with Dr Coleman, Ms Hood said, “not at all”.

“My comments were in regards to the fact that it was incorrect to say that there was a government directive to go slow, in fact the opposite was true,” Ms Hood said during a press conference on Thursday.

“I think I was really passionate about that response because I’ve seen firsthand [how] just incredibly hard our public servants have worked to respond to this algal bloom.”

In response to Dr Coleman’s departure, Ms Hood thanked the researcher’s contribution to both government panels.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has also been contacted for comment.

Workers have done their ‘absolute best’

In her resignation letter, Dr Coleman said she still believed the “political wing of the South Australian government is doing their best to support their communities” through the algal bloom disaster.

She also said the government had made “significant improvements” on transparency but there were areas for improvement.

In the face of what she said was ongoing resource cuts in the public sector, government workers had “done their absolute best to address all of the concerns”.

“Obviously there are some gaping holes in that and being able to clearly articulate the causes of this bloom is one of those,” she said.

But Dr Coleman said her resignation had “nothing to do” the work of public servants, which she said she supported.

Ms Hood said the government had made sure to listen to the experts in its response to the algal bloom.

“All the way along we really put the foot to the floor in regards to this response and that includes making sure that we’re taking on the views of a variety of experts including Ms Coleman,” she said.

Bloom data released

The latest weekly results showed 17 of 21 metropolitan sites showed low or no levels of Karenia, as well as regional testing sites across much of the Eyre and Fleurieu peninsulas.

However, testing results for Yorke Peninsula, which last week recorded elevated levels on the southern part, were still pending, and elevated levels were recorded at Waitpinga Beach on the Fleurieu Peninsula, Stokes Bay Boat Ramp on Kangaroo Island and Fitzgerald Bay on the Eyre Peninsula.