COOPER BASIN GAS PROJECT

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:11): I seek leave to make yet another ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We will listen to the Premier in silence.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Today it was announced to the Australian Stock Exchange that there would be a joint investigation by Beach Energy and Japan's Itochu Corporation into a potential billion dollar project to export unconventional liquefied natural gas from South Australia's Cooper Basin to Japan. The project is slated to create hundreds of jobs and extend the life of petroleum production from the basin. This LNG project, proposed by Beach Energy and Itochu Corporation, has the potential to create more than 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and hundreds of jobs during its ongoing operations.

Conventional natural gas reserves in the Cooper Basin will naturally decline over time, and I am reliably informed that the potential to harness what is known as non-conventional gas, as this project proposes, could dramatically extend the longevity of supplies of this important energy resource. Beach and Itochu are examining the Upper Spencer Gulf region as the potential site for a future $1 billion LNG plant, which would provide significant employment and investment potential for the region.

Madam Speaker, as a local member for the area, you would appreciate today's announcement, given that it follows the selection by Arafura Resources of Whyalla as a preferred site for its separate $1 billion Rare Earths Complex and OneSteel's commitment to an export enhancement program using iron ore sourced from the Middleback Ranges. It was great to be able to make the announcement of the state's 13^th mine just a week ago.

Beach Energy and Itochu Corporation will be subject to the usual regulatory and statutory approvals for this potential project. The selection by Beach and Itochu of Upper Spencer Gulf as a potential site for its LNG plant again underlines this government's ability to attract international investment. The employment generated by this project, should it be given the green light, will, of course, assist the government in reaching its employment target of 100,000 new jobs by 2016—that is, 100,000 more than the 125,000 already created.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!