House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Hydrogen Power Plant Hydrogen Power Plant Mr PATTERSON House of Assembly Morphett Hydrogen Power Plant Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:20): My question is to the Premier. Did the government ever receive advice not to proceed with the hydrogen power plant? The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier Minister for Defence and Space Industries Hydrogen Power Plant The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (14:21): I thank the shadow minister for energy for his question. I note the theme of questions we have had from the opposition regarding the Hydrogen Jobs Plan, and that is appropriate. The Hydrogen Jobs Plan was a comprehensive policy that the government took to the last election. We have made clear consistently that, in our view, it is in many respects regrettable that we have not been able to pursue that program or that policy in the way that we had desired. The reason is worth reflection. In all the back and forth about some of the matters that the opposition pursue, it is very easy for them to quickly forget some of the reasons why we took the pretty difficult decision that we did in the early months of this year. The reason the Hydrogen Jobs Plan is not actively being delivered by the state government is principally because we had a very difficult decision to make around the future of OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd as owned by GFG. What we learned throughout the last part, certainly the last quarter, of calendar year 2024, particularly in the immediate lead-up to Christmas and then in the early part of the new year, was there was a very real prospect that GFG and the Whyalla Steelworks was, in effect, about to collapse. Hence, we made the extraordinary decision to have an intervention that is largely unprecedented in Australian corporate history, where a state government moved special-purpose legislation in order to put GFG into administration so that, in effect, we could seek firstly to protect the state's position for the money that it was owed in terms of SA Water bills and royalties and then, in turn, potentially seek a new ownership of the steelworks with the capital and the expertise to invest in the opportunity that we believe in for Whyalla so much. Since making that intervention, I don't mind saying that we didn't do it a moment too soon, because we know that they were days away, potentially, from running out of metallurgical coal, critical for keeping the blast furnace going. The state of the steelworks in terms of OH&S was deplorable. Contractors were on the verge of becoming bankrupt themselves because they had not been paid, despite months of work. It is easy to say this now with hindsight, but it is true to say that it was the right call to make in an exceptionally difficult set of circumstances. That is the reason we took that position. Of course, not having a steelworks ready to live out the transition that they were committed to, to be a customer or an offtaker of hydrogen, thus delays the necessity to have the Hydrogen Jobs Plan enacted. But this government's aspirations and our pursuit of seeing Whyalla transition— Mr PATTERSON House of Assembly Morphett Mr PATTERSON: Point of order. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett, what number is your point of order? Mr PATTERSON House of Assembly Morphett Mr PATTERSON: It's 98(a): not answering the question and debating. The question was quite clear: did the government receive advice to not proceed with the hydrogen power plant? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The Premier is answering that very question. I am listening very carefully. This is an important question for the entire state, and one that the Premier is answering, so you can sit down. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The advice that the government received was that if the government did not act, we were at risk of losing the steelworks. That was the advice we received and that was the advice we acted on. We did it assertively and deliberately, and we now have a viable steelworks today. I was up with the member for Giles in Whyalla only a couple of Friday nights ago and had the privilege and opportunity to speak with countless small businesses firsthand— An honourable member interjecting: The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: You should try it sometime. They understand why the government did what it did and they are grateful for it. What we are committed to doing is making sure we see the recapitalisation of the steelworks to realise the decarbonisation opportunity before it, particularly with the pursuit of a more decarbonised form of green iron.