MINERAL EXPLORATION

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (14:54): My question is to the UN Secretary-General—sorry: to the Minister for Mineral Resources Development. Will the minister provide an update on the progress that is being made to encourage resource companies to consider South Australia as a low risk destination for their investment?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for his question; it is certainly very important, given the current world financial situation that we face. The government has worked hard to create an atmosphere that instils investors with the confidence to invest millions of dollars into this state to support our economy and create new jobs. Of course, we have not seen those efforts made by the government being acknowledged by those opposite very often. They have chosen to fill the great void created by their lack of policies with a cacophony of knocking, as they have just done.

As we saw with the previous question, they will attack my colleague but they have no policies of their own—none whatsoever. They either want to deny the advances made in luring mineral companies to this state or hint that it is all just a mirage. Occasionally, independent observers come along to remind us that, despite the constant carping of those sitting opposite, this state is making considerable progress. That is why I am delighted that South Australia has ranked first nationally and second internationally in the ResourceStocks annual world risk survey published last week in which 74 jurisdictions worldwide were rated by the 2008 survey against 10 investment risk categories comprising sovereign risk, land access (green tape), land claims (red tape), social risk infrastructure, civil unrest, natural disasters and labour relations.

ResourceStocks magazine rates South Australia as the least risky jurisdiction in Australia for investing in mining and exploration and second to Finland internationally. These results recognise the confidence investors have to invest in this state, and South Australia's success was described by ResourceStocks magazine as a 'just reward for the investment the state has made in the resources sector'. To further quote the ResourceStocks analysis of the world risk survey:

The one clear message that has come from this world resource risk survey is that South Australia is the best jurisdiction in this country by a significant margin.

I will also quote from another source speaking recently on ABC Radio, one that hardly has this government's interests at heart:

I am sure South Australia is going to enjoy a resources boom. I have to say that, if you look at how South Australia has performed in exploration over the past five years, if you look at the survey that was released earlier this week saying that South Australia is the second best place in the world to do business in terms of setting up resource projects after I think it was Finland, and way ahead of Western Australia—and, I have to unfortunately admit, ahead of Queensland as well—South Australia is on the brink of a resources boom, and that will be across a whole range of sectors.

Whom is this person with the audacity to confirm South Australia's high international standing in terms of investment by the mining industry? It is none other than Ian Macfarlane, the former resources minister in the Howard government. So there you have it! Members opposite and their 'jeer' leader in another place might want to talk down South Australia's prospects, but here we have a former minister in the conservative Howard government reflecting positively on the investment climate for the mining industry generated here in South Australia. There was more. Mr Macfarlane went on to say:

We hear a lot about uranium in South Australia, but there are a whole range of resources here that are being explored for and in time will provide an economic boost to this region.

At least Mr Macfarlane gets it! Despite the opposition's best attempts to spread this falsehood out there on the airwaves, South Australia is not betting on one project alone but, to quote Mr Macfarlane, on a whole range of resources that will provide an economic boost to this region.

I suggest that the impressive result reflected in the resource stock survey is in very large measure due to this government's confidence building policies led by the innovative plan for accelerating exploration. Our one-stop shop approach for prospective miners, combined with the various programs supported by PACE, has generated record breaking growth in exploration spending and investment within the South Australian resources sector.

When this government introduced PACE it set out to lure $100 million a year in exploration expenditure, after years of flat lining below $40 million a year previously. In the June quarter of this year alone the state attracted a record $95.2 million in exploration expenditure, almost the full year's target under the State Strategic Plan spent in three months. That is success well beyond our expectations. In the 12 months to June this year exploration expenditure for mineral resources exceeded $355 million, keeping South Australia neck and neck with Queensland and behind the resource rich Western Australia.

Concerted efforts made by this government to reduce red tape, improve access to land and further develop the necessary infrastructure requirements of the resources sector have also been reflected in the outstanding result of this latest resource stock survey. This is an important message that needs to get out during these turbulent economic times, that a time when financial markets are being roiled daily by the global credit crisis, South Australia is a low-risk jurisdiction for investment. We can only hope that, as the financial markets settle, much of this investment and exploration is translated into new mines.

Already the number of mines in South Australia has grown under this government from the four existing when we came to office in 2002. I hope we can do better and that some of the millions of dollars in projects in the pipeline will come into operation in the next 12 to 18 months. That is because at a time of uncertainty there is nothing that provides security like a job, and these projects and the jobs they create are essential in providing an important underpinning of our state's economy so that we can better weather the storms circulating the globe.