Grievance Debate

Whyalla Steelworks

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:15): It has been a significant day in South Australia's history and we have attempted to act in a bipartisan manner wherever possible today. We know that GFG is no longer running the steelworks and the state has appointed KordaMentha as an administrator of OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd under section 436C of the Corporations Act 2001. Make no mistake about it: at the moment, this is a Labor government that is in absolute chaos, and the Premier and his government are scrambling because they have allowed the situation in Whyalla to spiral.

The government has known the full extent of this issue for over six months. Whether it is in this place or outside of this place, we have been asking for months and months, how much is the arrears from the royalty payments? How much is owed in SA Water payments? How much is owed to creditors and what is the government doing about it? For over six months, we have been asking for things like the Whyalla Steel Task Force minutes—more secrecy from this government. Now at one minute to midnight, they are trying to secure these businesses to give certainty to families in Whyalla who are already on the brink, and have been on the brink for some time.

Today was an extraordinary moment in the history of this parliament, but the ripple effects in the town of Whyalla and the state of South Australia will be certainly felt for generations. From the outset, I want to stress that we on this side of the house are all on team South Australia. We are all on team South Australia, which is why this piece of legislation passed today in a matter of minutes, but I must make it clear that the government must not mistake this support for a blank cheque or an absence of scrutiny and accountability.

We will now be closely monitoring and scrutinising every next step, every next decision extremely closely, because the stakes are too high for this state. This is what an effective opposition does. It is why this issue came to light in the first place. It did not come to light because the Premier or his team decided to bring it to light; it came to light because the opposition raised questions in this house and the government finally buckled under the pressure to finally capitulate and provide some answers, under scrutiny from this opposition.

We have been sounding the alarm. The alarm bells have been ringing for months and months and months since September last year, but all we have been met with is secrecy and spin. Even this week, we called for an answer to this problem. It is about time the Premier put people before politics. It is not always about the right photo opportunity; it is about the people of Whyalla. We know that the government has known for a very, very long time about these unpaid debts. Through this time, the Premier has taken his eye off the ball. Instead, what has he been focusing on? He has been focusing on this hydrogen hoax. Well, how is that going? We hope that this has not come at the cost of any more jobs and small businesses.

Since we first uncovered the debts owing to the state from the owner of the steelworks, we have been left completely in the dark on the government's secret plan until literally minutes before legislation was rushed through the parliament today. South Australians have been asked today to provide an incredible level of trust in this government. At the moment, there is a trust deficit in this government.

This government have far more information available to them than those on this side of the chamber, because they refuse to release the minutes of the Steel Task Force. They do not even keep records of these meetings, as we discovered in a parliamentary committee last week. The people of South Australia have a right to know why the government made the moves it did today. That is why, when the dust settles and we go through the decisions that have been made by this government and the advice that they relied upon, we will continue holding them to account.

We have held this government to account for months. We have been asking questions about this for months. In fact, we were ridiculed about this and our constant calling for the Steel Task Force minutes. We asked the Premier if he would in fact put OneSteel Manufacturing into administration, and he would not answer the question.

The secrecy and the spin makes it incredibly difficult to continue to put any trust in this government, but we need to ensure that the Premier is not dealing false hope to the people of Whyalla and the Upper Spencer Gulf. Our commitment to the people of this state is that we will continue to scrutinise every decision, every next step and every move that this government makes.