South Australia Mining App

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:23): My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, fortuitously. Can the minister update the house on the uptake of the South Australia mining app launched by the government almost two years ago?

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (15:23): Ask the minister for Aboriginal heritage. I thank the member for Little Para for his question and keen interest in our world-class resources and energy sectors. South Australia's mining industry has made significant advances since this government took office in 2002 and, of course, information technology has advanced in leaps and bounds.

On 11 October 2013, just two short years ago, I was delighted to launch a new smart phone app to empower resource investment in South Australia. Information technology has meant that vast amounts of knowledge held by the state about our mineral resources and energy projects can now be unleashed through the power of a smart phone. The free 24-hour access to key information provided by this internet enabled app is helping to keep investors up-to-date as they weigh up investment decisions affecting South Australia's resource and energy sector. Since the launch—I will speak slower for the member for Schubert so he can find it—the Department of State Development has recorded 2,130 downloads through the app store for iPhones and a further 560 downloads using Google Play for Android phones.

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned a first time and the member for Hammond is warned a second and final time. The Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: So, milestones have been achieved with app store downloads breaking the 2,000 mark, Google Play surpassing 500, for a grand total of 2,708 downloads. Hopefully, those download tallies will continue to grow in lockstep with the interest in our resources and energy sector. This is only the beginning and I hope that, as more prospects progress through the pipeline, we will experience increasing interest in our state's resources and energy sector. These are challenging times for our resources and energy sector. World commodity prices have fallen dramatically, iron ore prices are recovering from six-year lows and the world oil price remains below $50 a barrel. The government will not be abandoning the resources and energy sector in these challenging times. Where we can support the industry with innovative policies we will continue to do so.

The South Australian mining app is an example of how using innovation can better inform the market and investors about the opportunities in South Australia. It allows people to access some of the wealth of information available through our award-winning web-enabled SARIG, the South Australian Resources Information Geoserver developed by the resources and energy division of the Department of State Development. Access to this information, as well as the tremendous state asset we have in our state drill core library, are some of the reasons why South Australia continues to be highly regarded in the annual Fraser Institute survey. I was pleased that South Australia's geological databases were ranked second in the world in the latest survey.

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: Is that second?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Second in the world. Investments by this government in world-leading initiatives such as SARIG, the Plan for Accelerating Exploration (known as PACE) and the drill core library are the very foundations on which the continued success of our resources and energy sectors will be built. I recommend the South Australian mining app to all members. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to go to the app store or Google Play and download a version for your smart phone.