Nyrstar

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (15:30): My question is to the Minister for State Development. Can the minister inform the house of any significant milestones at Nyrstar's Port Pirie redevelopment project and any impediments to securing this major investment in regional South Australia?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (15:30): Can I thank the member for Colton for his keen interest in the Port Pirie region. It is fair to say there has been substantial progress in the $514 million redevelopment of the Port Pirie smelter, an investment secured by funding and a support package agreed between Nyrstar and the South Australian government, and the member for Frome played a very large role in securing that package. Major contracts have been awarded, demolition work is underway and construction of a new workshop and oxygen plant has begun.

Mr Speaker, excitement is building. Only last week, Paris-based Air Liquide announced a long-term agreement with Nyrstar to invest in a new state-of-the-art air separation unit as part of the redevelopment project. This is an $85 million project that has been leveraged from this government's support for Nyrstar's redevelopment project. This brings the total investment in Port Pirie to almost $600 million, a major flow of capital into regional South Australia that is creating jobs and opportunities for local suppliers.

The expanded agreement allows Air Liquide to supply oxygen and nitrogen to the new industrial process to be used by Nyrstar at Port Pirie. I hope I pronounce this correctly, sir—François Venet, Air Liquide's vice-president, Asia Pacific, said, and I have translated this myself:

With this investment, Air Liquide is reinforcing its presence in Australia.

He goes on to say:

We are also proud that this project both contributes to reducing the environmental footprint while strengthening the industrial foundation of South Australia.

As a partner in this project, we are very proud. Proud of the international investment secured for this state and proud that the redevelopment will deliver a better environment for the residents of Port Pirie. This was not an easy deal to secure, but the alternative was not standing with Nyrstar to secure this investment and that was too bleak a future to contemplate.

Port Pirie's future would have been one of mass social dislocation. There would have been huge legacy issues from a smelter that has operated on that site for more than 125 years. We would have had to deal with the flow-on effects to the small businesses, contractors and retail and service industry workers in Port Pirie and the Mid North that rely on the workforce at the smelter, let alone the dramatic decrease in property values. Confidence in the community, region and state would have been shattered.

We began our discussions with Nyrstar with a Labor government in Canberra which understood that without the investment in Port Pirie, Port Pirie would be on its knees. We found that with the change of government there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm to support an EFIC guarantee for this project. I spoke with Andrew Robb, a man who I have a great deal of respect for and who I believe has a great deal of integrity. He was in charge of EFIC and he was clear that there would be no guarantee under an Abbott government. His words were, to quote, 'This is near impossible.'

So, the South Australian government had to go it alone. We had to go it alone to secure this much-needed investment, and we did it because we believe in the people of Port Pirie and we know that in South Australia the best outcomes are achieved when we work with business, the community and the parliament to meet the challenges that we face. It is in the DNA of the Australian Labor Party to stand up for working families and it is in our DNA to stand up for Nyrstar.