Whyalla Steelworks

Mrs PEARCE (King) (14:49): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on state government assistance to secure the future of the Whyalla Steelworks?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:49): I want to thank the member for King for her question. I have seen the member for King out and about in her own community advocating the interests of small business in a whole range of different contexts, and I know she understands better than most the power of small business, to do with family businesses, to be able to employ others, but also these are hardworking people, no different to other workers in other communities.

I've got to say, we were particularly affronted as a government as we spent more and more time on the ground in Whyalla talking to businesses who were in Struggle Street not because they were not getting work but because they were getting work and then not getting paid for it, which is the most egregious set of circumstances. Of course, information that has emerged from the creditors' meeting has put that in even more public view than was already the case. This is something I know that the Minister for Small and Family Business has particularly been attuned to.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend some time with some of those creditors, and I want to particularly acknowledge Dave Bruce and Jarrod Starkey from Whyalla Hose and Fittings, who themselves explained on the public record the circumstances that they confronted as a result of creditors not being paid. Thankfully, because this government did the work quietly for reasons that are now well understood, behind closed doors, over many, many weeks and months, we were in a position, following the company going into administration, to at the same time announce a comprehensive support proposition for those creditors, where thankfully, through some of the thoughtfulness from a range of agencies, we have been able to craft a support package that is unlike any other that has preceded it in that creditors are assigning over their rights to a dividend to the state government in exchange for state government paying them some of the debts that they were owed by the business that is now under administration.

I am very pleased to report that, as of only a few moments ago, I am in receipt of advice that these businesses are starting to receive those funds as of today—as of today. Think about that for a moment . This is a government that, within a matter of days, within a matter of days of receiving an application for hundreds of thousands of dollars from local small businesses, are receiving those funds. This is government working at an unprecedented pace to show on the ground to the Whyalla community that the steps that we have taken are acting in concert with their interests rather than against them.

It is a Labor government standing up for working people in Whyalla, and when we talk about working people we are not just talking about wage and salary earners. We are also talking about hardworking small businesses that haven't been receiving pay for the work that they have done. It is an example of which I am very proud, that represents the values of this government but also the determination to use the power that we have at our disposal to get the public sector moving at a pace that otherwise government isn't always famous for, and a whole range of people deserve credit for that, including within senior and frontline elements of the public sector.

We have heard the calls of businesses on the ground. We have responded, we have protected the interests of taxpayers, and we have stood up for those small businesses so that they don't just survive the ordeal that they've been through over the last 18 months or so but indeed they are setting themselves up for the future. This is not just paying them to relieve them of burdens of the past; it is about an investment in their futures, which is consistent with the interests and the future of the state.