Whyalla

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (14:30): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please inform the house of the initiatives he is undertaking to help support the broader Whyalla community during the current uncertainty about Arrium?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for his question. I had the opportunity over the last 24 hours to ring a number of businesses in Whyalla, and universally they communicated to me their strong appreciation for the excellent representation they are receiving at a local level from their local member, the member for Whyalla and, of course, also the strong support they are receiving from both the state government, through the Minister for Mineral Resources, but also from the federal government, the federal industry minister. There was a sense in which they were being supported by the broader Australian community, and that was a good thing.

What did emerge, though, is that while there has been a lot of focus on Arrium and its workforce, there are a lot of contractors to Arrium, so they were appreciative that they had a call to find out how they were going. There was of course a level of anxiety, but there is a strong commitment to securing a future for the Whyalla steelworks, and they are focused on what they can control. People are committed to the future, and they are taking steps to ensure that their employees are well supported. Many of them have employee assistance programs. They are answering questions from their workforce. They are all seeking to work together, and that's a good thing.

What I tried to do was to reassure them that we, of course, at a state level and at a national level, are doing everything we can to secure a future for the steelworks, and we'll continue that important work, but that I wanted to understand what was happening in the meantime, because there is an important period between now and when we hopefully get a successful resolution for the future of the steelworks, where we still need to keep this town going and strong and successful. What emerged to me is that obviously an administration triggers a period where, looking back three months, debts are frozen.

For many of the larger contractors, especially those that are part of the larger group or part of an international consortium, they can carry the one, two, three or $4 million but, for many small businesses that have only a direct relationship with Arrium, that loss of, say, half a million dollars can be a catastrophic blow to the cash flow of the business, so it's to those people we turn our attention now. It's for that reason that I've asked the Minister for Regional Development to visit Whyalla tomorrow to pay special attention to those particular issues.

I've also asked the South Australian Small Business Commissioner, John Chapman, to accompany the minister to work closely with small businesses in the township and to understand each of their particular circumstances. Not all of them are in these circumstances, but it may well be the local fish and chip shop that has a catering contract with Arrium, or it could be another smaller contractor that has a particular one-on-one relationship that may be particularly affected.

We continue, of course, to work with the administrators for Arrium. We do hear that there is the prospect of a change of administrators. That, of course, is of concern to us, but we will work with whoever the administrator is to quickly ensure that the people of Whyalla have the sort of certainty they need to plan a future for themselves.

We've been heartened by the fact that there seem to be many international investors and other Australian-based investors who do see a future for these assets. We've been contacted, as I know the administrator has been contacted, about the possible purchase of some or all of those assets. So that's a good thing; it does give us some cause for some quiet optimism.

We will continue that work, but in the meantime the whole of the business community, the whole of the South Australian community, need to get in behind the people of Whyalla and, indeed, the people of the Upper Spencer Gulf to show them our support.