Mining Employment

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:20): My question is again to the Premier. At the rate of $10 million paid to OZ Minerals for approximately 30 new jobs to be based in South Australia—which he just referred to in his last answer—how much will it cost our taxpayers to achieve the government's 5,000 new jobs which have been promised?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:20): Of course, the member for Stuart, I think, is more intelligent than the question he asks, because he knows that it's a cheap shot to simply do the tabloid trick of saying $10 million, 60 jobs—

Mr Marshall: Well, release the details of the contract.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We explained them at the time, and the investment is to permit OZ Minerals to invest in research to unlock the challenges associated with getting at our very deep mineralogy here in this state. They are obliged to share that for the whole of the state, for the benefit of the whole of the state. It's not proprietary information, it's something that will be available for all miners.

If we are able to unlock the technological challenges of getting at these ore bodies, it not only will create incredibly large numbers of jobs associated with that particular company but it will also unlock opportunities for other companies. So, it is obviously a cheap debating point to actually compare the $10 million with the 60 jobs associated with the movement of head office.

Having said that, the head office itself means that if OZ Minerals, as a very large—I think it is a company that is capitalised in the order of $1 billion—a top 200 ASX company, is successful in its operations in Australia and around the world and it grows, that growth will happen here in South Australia. Of course, there is also the question of critical mass. There is the accumulation of head offices here in South Australia which all interact with each other and create important synergies. That is why we placed that as a strategic objective.

When we published these things, we heard no cogent criticism of the targets that we set for ourselves. There is just a complaint that, 'We don't think you're going to get there.' Well, they are a bit like the complaints that we heard coming from those opposite year after year. Every year I have been in this role, every year those opposite said that we didn't grow. They trot out some statistic, always finding the worst-available statistic, to say that this economy is not growing. Every single year of the time I have been in this office and, indeed, of the previous, every one of the 13 years we have been in this office, this state economy has grown—sometimes not at the rate that has been able to provide all of the jobs for the citizens we would like, but nevertheless we have grown every year.

Please stop talking down South Australia, and if you can't avoid stopping talking down South Australia, at least offer some positive ideas about how you think it should be different.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: A supplementary question, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Bragg is right. The supplementary, member for Stuart.