Whyalla Steelworks

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is again to the Premier. What plans does the Premier have for the Whyalla Steelworks in the event that no-one wants to purchase it?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:14): It's a hypothetical question. Again, the Leader of the Opposition with this line of questioning—one of the virtues of this forum is that it is in full public view. The Hansard forever will reflect the line of questioning from the Leader of the Opposition on this really important and significant policy question for the state. Our objective has to be in making sure that we get sovereign steel production in this country standing on its own two feet. That is exactly why we have a comprehensive policy, which a range of ministers have been engaged in, with a range of agencies, including across the commonwealth, because we haven't devised a policy just to put the steelworks into administration, we haven't even devised a policy that is about the survival of steel production in this country: we have actually devised a policy that is about its long-term future.

Like anything with the private sector, there are absolutely no cast-iron guarantees. The sole objective that we have taken here is to maximise the likelihood of a long-term, economic, commercially viable steel production business in this country. That's what we've done; we have sought to maximise the opportunity. The intervention we made is not lost on anyone in this place and I take the opportunity to thank the opposition to help facilitate in good faith the passage of the special-purpose legislation.

The actions that the government took, of course, were so significant in nature to reflect the significance of the challenge. We formed the judgement, in conjunction with expert advice, that the business on its current trajectory was approaching a position where it would be irredeemable. The moment we had that advice in hand, it invited us to take a course of action to minimise the likelihood of the business being irredeemable and maximise the likelihood of a long-term commercial, viable proposition. That is what we have sought to do. That doesn't bring with it any guarantees, except to say this: I think we can stand here—particularly given the information that has been divulged publicly by the administrator over the course of the last 48 hours—and say, with a high degree of confidence, that we are in a far better position today than where we were a fortnight ago because of the actions of this government. We know that the steelworks' prospects of long-term survival have been greatly enhanced by us.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The member for Chaffey interjects. His interjections come second only to the member for Unley's for how welcome they are. The member for Chaffey obviously does not appreciate that the structure of the government's package isn't about bailing out GFG—GFG's debts are their own. What we have done is secure the future of Whyalla by coming up with a thoughtful strategy to protect the interests of South Australian taxpayers, who, of course, would be adversely affected if we had no steel industry at all, and we might have had no steel industry at all if we had gone down the path of signing up to a policy, like the Leader of the Opposition suggested, which was, 'Just give another $50 million to Gupta.' So we have got a very different approach and a different approach with a very different outcome.