Question Time

Whyalla Steelworks

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): My question is to the Premier. Has the government sought advice on any exposure the state faces in the event that the Whyalla Steelworks is placed into voluntary administration? If so, when did it seek this advice and what prompted it to seek this advice?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:11): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Yes, the government is actively procuring advice on a range of areas regarding the Whyalla Steelworks. It's principally being driven through the work of the government in the Steel Task Force. The Steel Task Force has been stood up for some time. As the Leader of the Opposition is well aware, it is chaired by Mr Bruce Carter, who has a high degree of familiarity with the operation of the steelworks. In fact, Mr Carter was advising the government throughout the exercise of the administration of the steelworks as it transitioned out of the ownership of Arrium ultimately to GFG.

On a day-to-day basis, the Steel Task Force has been providing advice to the government principally on the $50 million that we've got on the table that we want to make available to GFG for the purposes of the transformation of the steelworks. More recently, the task force has been undertaking work on behalf of the government to contemplate any actions that we may take to ensure the state is prepared for any eventuality that may present itself with the steelworks. That includes the procurement of the types of advice that the Leader of the Opposition referred to in his question.

That work has been ongoing. I would submit to the Leader of the Opposition that the Steel Task Force has become increasingly engaged in terms of the day-to-day operations of the steelworks ever since trouble started to emerge a few months ago, particularly with the events around the blast furnace, where troubles saw the blast furnace not operating in a way that we would expect. That has been ongoing ever since then, including most recently getting advice on what the state will do in the event that something unfortunate happens with GFG.

In terms of the exposure to the state, that is relatively limited. The state is a creditor of GFG in a number of areas. As the Treasurer yesterday indicated, currently GFG is not up to date in terms of its payments of royalties. This is not unprecedented. It has occurred in the past and subsequently been rectified, and we have every hope that that's what will occur in this instance. In terms of exposure to the state, there isn't exposure beyond those types of arrangements in a financial sense. The real exposure to the state really comes in the form of our concern for the people of Whyalla, the businesses that service Whyalla, the people who work at the steelworks. That's where we are concerned and that is what is of course occupying the minds of the government and all concerned who are invested in this effort.

What I wouldn't expect the Leader of the Opposition to be familiar with is that for some weeks now—well beyond some weeks—the government has had various press conferences, particularly myself and the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. The media have, naturally, been asking us about the work we are undertaking and we have made pretty plain that we are treating this seriously and in a way some ways are public facing, others less so.

But, as I said yesterday, I could not possibly overstate the fact that the government is behind the scenes working as hard as we can to not unfairly or unreasonably fuel concern or speculation, but at the same time act in a way that is prudent and measured so as to ensure that the government is well prepared for anything that might happen with GFG.