Nyrstar Long Service Award Recipients

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Stuart) (15:26): Today I would like to talk about the recently held long service and safety awards which were held last Friday by Nyrstar Port Pirie smelters to celebrate employees who have been employed and working at the plant, celebrating 10 years' service, 25 years' service, 40 years' service, 45 years' service and also, in this instance, two people with 50 years of service. There were 44 employees who were celebrated in the years of service, which is a really remarkable achievement when considering the challenges that this plant has endured over many years, especially with the voluntary administration of Pasminco and the recent transformation of the plant itself.

To acknowledge these employees' dedication, I would like to mention their names for each of their years of service. For 10 years' service was Richard Cable, Jarrad Davies, Aaron Fetherstonhaugh, Matt Haldane, Stuart McMahon, James Pavlich, Stuart Roseberg, Craig Schroeder, Emily Tan, Kylie Templer, Jason Todd and Peter Turvey.

For 25 years' service: Stephen Blight, Marc Crouch, Gerhard Davis, Scott Gray, Shane Gregory, Jason Holman, Dieter Lunsmann, Mick Northcott, William Norton, Simon Oehms, Joel Sard, Jason Scarman, Paul Seyfang, Michael Smith, Stephen Stringer, Craig Swearse and Shane Wilton. For 40 years' service: Kingsley Court, Paul Dibbens, Darian Hayes, Paul Laube, David Scarman and Gabriel Turci. For 45 years' service: Rodney Clarke, Robert Flavel, Goeffrey Irving, Robert Oaklands, Vito Porta and John Spadavecchia. For 50 years' service: Michael Camporeale and David McPherson.

The scary part about that is that when I started at the smelters in 1978 quite a few of these people were apprentices in the machine shop where I actually had a stint, so it is a bit daunting. The total years of service of these employees that I have mentioned today represent nearly 1,200 years of dedicated service to this plant in Port Pirie. I personally know that there have been employees in these categories that have either moved on or have passed on. There has been a great opportunity in the plant there for people. There are a couple of families—and the Scarman family in particular many years ago, which had four generations working at the smelters, and one of the recipients of the awards was there for 57 years. It just goes to show the dedication and support that these people have for the plant and their dedication to their community. These are really remarkable achievements. It proves the loyalty that employees of the plant have had in the works over these years and also the importance that the support of the various owners of the plant over the years have shown to the community of Port Pirie and the surrounds.

As we all know here, when I first started it was BHAS, then they went through a bit of turmoil and then we went into Pasminco. Pasminco went into voluntary administration, and thank goodness the banks took the assets as the equity. I will say this: the community rallied together, the union stuck together, everybody worked together to get that plant out of the voluntary administration and we are still there. That was over nearly 35 years ago. That is an absolutely great credit to the community of Port Pirie and also to the workers there. Then they went to Zinifex and then went to Nyrstar, and Nyrstar were owned 2 per cent—I think the percentage was originally—by Trafigura, the world's second largest commodity trader, and just recently in the last few years now Trafigura are 100 per cent the shareholders in the plant and I see great opportunities there.

With these people there today, nearly 1,200 years of service is really a tribute to the community there, and especially with the older people there, but for these two people, Michael Camporeale and David McPherson, to actually serve in the one plant for 50 years' continuous service is a dedication to them and to their commitment but also a tribute to their families which enabled them to do that. So, again, it is a privilege that I have been able to get this message across today.