Whyalla Steelworks

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:34): I rise today to acknowledge a number of people and organisations that were involved in the massive circuit breaker at Whyalla on 19 February. I believe that 19 February is going to be seen as a historic day. What happened in this chamber and what happened in the upper house was unprecedented. The amendment that we moved to the 1958 steelworker act on that day enabled the state government to push GFG in Whyalla into administration. That power was unprecedented. It gave the state government the power that banks have when it comes to administration and the fact that this chamber, the upper house and the Governor signed off on it in a very short period of time was something amazing to behold.

I would have to say that prior to it I was very nervous. If something had gone wrong or if Gupta had got wind of what we were up to, it could have all come unstuck, so I would like to congratulate everybody in this chamber and the upper house on the work they did on that particular day.

Obviously, the last year or so has been very challenging in Whyalla, but I was always very confident that we were going to find the way through. There is still a long way to go and a lot of challenges, but, as I said, this was a major circuit breaker. The reason I was confident was that I knew that especially the Premier and the Minister for Energy and Mining, Minister Koutsantonis, always had the back of my community. I knew their commitment was unwavering and I knew the quality of the work that was being done behind the scenes to secure the future of the steelworks.

As a local member, it was difficult having to repeat the line that, 'We are playing our cards close to our chest. It's an evolving situation. When we know what the ultimate set of circumstances will look like then we will act.' To repeat that line and people not see anything happening was a frustrating process. Obviously, some people were highly critical, but a lot of people understood that stuff was going on behind the scenes.

I would like to thank the Premier, the Minister for Energy and Mining, the cabinet and also importantly the raft of advisers, public servants and lawyers who were involved in putting together the strategy that enabled us to push Sanjeev Gupta into administration in Whyalla because by doing that it then enabled the $2.4 billion package to start to flow. The state government and the federal government were not going to put money into the GFG operation in Whyalla. Sanjeev Gupta had to go.

But there are a lot of other people who need acknowledgment, such as, obviously, the workers and contractors in Whyalla who held that place together, often in incredibly difficult circumstances. One of my sons is a maintenance fitter at the steelworks. I knew what the state of that plant was, and it was not in a good state. I want to acknowledge the two union officials on the ground in Whyalla, Steve McMillan who headed up the AMWU in Whyalla and Shane Karger who headed up the AWU, for all their work and for always being available when I needed to speak to them and also all the delegates and all those individual workers who would come to see me to raise issues so a lot of that information was passed on.

A lot of contractors did it incredibly hard in Whyalla. They were facing closure and one or two did. I think they were very surprised about the nature of the package that we delivered for the contractors in Whyalla and the level of support so that the important contractor ecosystem in Whyalla could live for another day and make its contribution to the steelworks. We have $384 million to fund the administration at the plant at this stage and, as I said, there might be more money available in the future. But what we are able to do now gives us a real fighting chance to build on those fundamental underlying strengths in Whyalla and the region so that we can make steel for generations to come.