FAR NORTH REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:09): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about the Far North of our state.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: The vastness of the north region presents challenges for those who live and work there, as well as the government, which seeks to promote regional development in the area. Some of those challenges, as we know, have been romantically depicted in poetry and song, but, in addition to extreme heat, drought and huge distances, there are significant economic opportunities in the vastness of our Far North. Can the minister advise the chamber about some of the developments taking place in the Far North?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for her important question. I recently had the great pleasure of getting out into one of our largest regions of South Australia, the Far North. The Far North region covers nearly 80 per cent of the state and incorporates two iconic tourist regions, the Flinders Ranges and the outback. It also includes a large proportion of the state's mineral exploration regions, so there was a lot to see and a lot of issues to deal with, as well as enormous distances to cover.

I was able to meet with RDA Far North board members, who outlined the strategic opportunities and strengths of the region. The committee helps guide development in the area through its regional roadmap. The RDA also helps businesses and communities access assistance from government, such as the $4 million over four years from the Enterprise Zone Fund for Upper Spencer Gulf and Outback. RDA Far North board members discussed with me what they see as the key opportunities for the region. They clearly appreciate that the expansion of the mining sector will help deliver real benefits for the region, and the committee is looking to ensure that communities in the region can link into the expansion and maximise benefits.

Port Augusta is obviously a central city in this region and is already an important service centre for the diverse communities in the region. I took time to visit some of the businesses which currently—or potentially will—play a vital role as the metals and mining exploration sector expands. I met with Michael Kuhn from Max Crane and Equipment Hire (SA), which has vast knowledge in lifting and rigging capabilities. With its highly trained operators, it is able to meet the needs of businesses in most areas and most terrains. This business has an important supporting role in the development of mining, and I understand that it is just about to commission a new 400-tonne crane to help meet that growing demand for services.

I had the pleasure of visiting Sundrop Farms, which uses remarkable technology to produce fresh water for agriculture in the arid lands. It is a horticulture centre basically in the middle of a desert. The project aims to use desalinated sea water in combination with the obviously almost unlimited sunlight, for which the region is famous, and modern greenhouse technology. Together, these elements are planned to lead to the production of high quality crops such as tomatoes, capsicums and cucumbers, and I was interested to listen to their plans for expansion. This wonderful initiative was assisted in 2009-10, when the organisation received just over $100,000 from the RDIF fund.

I met with Lindsay Hill of Alinta Energy, who provided me with an insight into the power generation carried out at the Port Augusta site through the Playford and Northern stations. It was particularly interesting to see the plant during its programmed maintenance and to gain a sense of the evolution of the plant and the technology used to operate it.

I went on to Olympic Dam and met with Val and her son Darren Lamb, and manager Lee Emmett. Val, together with her husband, Ken Lamb, who is quite famous, runs Olympic Dam Transport, or ODT. Over the last two decades he has built up his family business from, I believe, one truck to what is now a significant supplier of services and materials to the mining and pastoral industries. I understand that ODT has used local knowledge and taken the opportunity to grow and is now an employer of over 100 people with an attached recruitment company.

While at Olympic Dam I was also privileged to meet with Ray Winter, the northern areas manager of Cowell Electric. This South Australian success story is run by Sue Chase, the 2010 Advantage SA Regional Awards Westpac Large Business Award winner. Cowell Electric is a powerline construction and electrical contracting company with a rich and diverse history based on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It has also developed a strong base in mining and resource industries through its maintenance work for both miners and the support sector. It is doing some very leading work in green technology.

I mentioned earlier that another important sector in this region is tourism. Wilpena Pound is a significant domestic and international tourism destination providing a great range of accommodation, tours and scenic flights, and I met with Wilpena Pound resort manager, Matt Coxon. I received an update on the tourist season and its experience as a longstanding provider of a great tourism experience. It was apparent that the great attractor of Lake Eyre is viewed as a very significant driver to increase tourism numbers coming to Wilpena as part of the bush or outback experience.

We visited Coober Pedy, which included a meeting with several members of the council, as well as the council CEO, Trevor McLeod. I was able to inspect the recently opened airport terminal, which is a fabulous new facility, and the council has done a great job in managing that project and should be congratulated.

I visited IMX Resources and OZ Minerals, two quite different mining operations in our Far North. IMX Resources' mining operations are based some 50 kilometres south-east of Coober Pedy. However, they have developed a camp within the town boundaries, which helps to ensure that some of the economic benefit of mining employment is harnessed in the town of Coober Pedy.

I was also able to tour IMX Resources' site to see the mining and crushing operation and hear from management about their plans for future exploration of the resource. At the Prominent Hill mine site I was able to see firsthand how the OZ Minerals' team have been able to accelerate their operations in the past two years.

Travelling the vast distances between settlements in our Far North is not always easily done and air travel in the region is critical. One such supplier of transport for miners and residents, tourist flights and mustering services for pastoralists is Wrightsair. This company is based at William Creek, was originally established in 1990 and provides a wide range of services to outback South Australia as well as into the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. Its founder, Trevor Wright, is a highly skilled pilot and passionate about the outback and certainly a fount of invaluable information. It was inspiring to hear how his business has grown to a fleet of some 18 aircraft servicing the region.

As members can see, there are exciting times ahead for our Far North region. We need to make every effort to harness this opportunity. The RDA Far North certainly has this exciting opportunity firmly in its sights.