Whyalla Steelworks

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:34): I rise today to talk about the ongoing situation in Whyalla with the blast furnace. It could be said, to use the words of Dickens, that it is both the best of times and the worst of times in Whyalla—the best of times, given the promise of what the future holds.

Members opposite would be interested to know that construction, or at least earthworks, will start on the hydrogen power plant towards the end of this year, so that is good news and positive news. There are also other potential projects in the broader region that will serve to benefit not just Whyalla but Port Augusta and Port Pirie and elsewhere on Eyre Peninsula. The Northern Water project has not been signed off on; it has some way to go.

I know there is strong bipartisan support for that project as it will be an enabler for BHP to expand copper production in the north of the state, and the potential to increase copper production threefold is something of a game changer. Of course, magnetite was also mentioned today by the Minister for Energy and Mining, and the abundance of magnetite in this state also gives us some hope for the future.

But at the moment the community of Whyalla is in a very difficult place. Contrary to the impression—partly driven by the media and partly driven by GFG—that the blast furnace is up and running, that is not the case. When is it going to be up and running? There is a question mark about how long that is going to take. What was achieved was fixing up the damage to the external shell of the blast furnace, but that got us back to where we were before that happened in the attempt to get the blast furnace back up and running.

Once again, I take my hat off to those workers who are involved in getting the blast furnace up and running, because what they are going through at the moment is really tough stuff. Of course, because the blast furnace is not operating, the permanent workforce who were working night shifts—not all of them, but a significant number—are on day shift now, which represents a 30 per cent cut in pay. That is not to mention the impact on labour hire people who are out of work and the impact on contractors and their employees. So it is a serious situation.

There is no hiding the fact that if we get the blast furnace up and running again, the fundamental issues at that ageing plant, an ageing plant in general, have not gone away. We do need a technology transition. When that is going to be achieved, how that is going to be achieved and even by whom that is going to be achieved are real questions that people ask: what is the nature of the transition? How smooth is it going to be? There is, at the moment, a degree of scepticism amongst significant parts of the workforce.

Unfortunately, given the challenges at the steelworks, to add to the challenges in Whyalla we see that there have been job layoffs at the mine sites. Initially, it was 38 to 50 people; another 40 have been added. I asked the question regarding the transition from the hematite resource, which is running out, to magnetite and how many additional jobs will be lost, but that is a question that cannot be answered at the moment. So that is more uncertainty for the Whyalla community.

Unfortunately, with GFG the community has seen a whole range of their promises in the past, none of which have been delivered. You could say that at least the plant is still there, but the promises—whether it is the Cultana solar project, the new mill, pumped hydro, the list goes on—have not been delivered. Now we face the prospect of the electric arc furnace and the direct reduction iron unit, which is central to any future, being subject to a bankable feasibility study which will not be completed until the end of this year or next year: yet a further kicking of the can down the road and more uncertainty for the community.