Whyalla Steelworks

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:54): My question is again to the Premier. Has the government been in any discussions with any other entities to run the Whyalla Steelworks?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:54): The owner of the steelworks is GFG and the company that we are in regular discussions with is, of course, the owner of the steelworks and that is GFG and we wish them every success.

Regarding the opportunities around the State Prosperity Project, including the green iron opportunity, there is a range of companies we are speaking to. I personally have spoken to representatives of BlueScope, Nippon Steel, POSCO, thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel regarding the green iron opportunity in South Australia. They are engaging in it. We have had an expression of interest process being run by the state government regarding the green iron opportunity because it's long-term and it's a big one. During the course of last week, I had another meeting with the net zero authority and I had a meeting with ARENA at a federal level all discussing these opportunities.

Understand this, and I come back to the fundamentals: the fundamentals are sound. We have the magnetite, we have the renewable energy, we have a steelworks and we have a port. If we bring those things together, we can produce green iron. I would actively encourage—and this is not me being cute, because I have been on a significant journey myself becoming familiar with this area of policy—but the green iron opportunity, I submit to the opposition and any other person in this state observing parliamentary proceedings, is a multi decade long opportunity that is a very big one for South Australia and it would be a great shame if we didn't start investing the effort in a bipartisan way to realise it.

No different to the state's pursuit of the naval shipbuilding industry and the state's pursuit of the space industry, we have achieved this because there has been bipartisan support for it, across different governments, of different political persuasions, across a sustained period of time. The same can be true for the green iron opportunity.

The world is going to need to consume green iron. Green steel, I think, is an even more long-term prospect again. I think we should focus on what can be achieved in the next 10 or 20 years and green iron is very much in that category if we play our cards right at this particular point in time. There is global competition for it. We know the Saudis are interested. We know in America they are interested. We know that others are looking at actively investing in DRI. There is DRI being invested in in northern Europe at the moment to produce green iron because it is going to have to happen in order to decarbonise steel. We can get in on this if we get in early and we get active and seek to exploit the natural advantages that we have here in this state.

Quite rightly, the shadow minister asks questions about the State Prosperity Project and the steelworks because all of these things are important, but know this: the owner of the steelworks is an important consideration but it's one that is second to the fundamentals economically for the long-term future of the state. Whoever owns the steelworks, or whoever is investing in a green iron opportunity, will be a significant partner to whoever is occupying the treasury bench. We have that great privilege at the moment and that is why we are actively working with all parties at every available opportunity.