Power Outages, Arrium

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:47): Can the minister outline to the house what are the consequences of power not being restored at Whyalla and the blast furnace cooling?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:47): It is far too early to say, but the Leader of the Opposition is right: we don't want the furnace to cool. We understand that there are contingencies in place. We are working with the administrators to give them what they need. Gas is still being supplied. We do think there are contingencies that can deal with it, but it is far too early for us to say.

Once I have more information about Arrium, I am more than happy to offer the opposition a briefing about where they are at. Obviously, the administrator would like it to be done on a confidential basis, but we're more than happy to make that information available to the opposition and, of course, importantly, to the local member of parliament and the local council.

It is vitally important that we get power back to these industries not only because it is important for the infrastructure within those companies but because it is important for people to get back to work. It is important that we get industry up and running again. By and large, much of the industry in South Australia is up and running again, but some of our regional industries are doing it tough. We want to make sure that we can get power back to them as quickly as possible.