MINING INFRASTRUCTURE

The Hon. M. PARNELL (14:51): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, representing the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, a question about mineral export facilities on Spencer Gulf.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: Yesterday the government announced that it had granted major development status to a proposal by Braemar Infrastructure for a floating processing storage and offloading facility between Wallaroo and Port Pirie. Last month, the government gave major development status to a multibillion-dollar deep sea port development at Cape Hardy being proposed by Iron Road Ltd. These two are on top of the earlier major development declarations for mineral export ports at Point Lowly (also known as Port Bonython), near the cuttlefish breeding grounds, and Port Spencer (also known as Sheep Hill), near the Lipson Island little penguin colony.

Additional mineral export port developments or upgrades are also proposed for Lucky Bay near Cowell, Port Lincoln and Whyalla. That makes seven port proposals, or in fact eight if you count the BHP Billiton port proposal for Upper Spencer Gulf near Port Augusta, which has already been approved.

On ABC radio last month, minister Koutsantonis, when questioned about how many mineral ports we need, said:

We say that the market will decide where a port will be built, not the government.

The minister went on to say that by giving approvals in advance, the companies would work out amongst themselves which port or ports will actually be built. That approach is in stark contrast to the call from the Conservation Council of South Australia for 'a strategic environmental assessment of the cumulative impacts of current and proposed development in Spencer Gulf, in order to minimise harm through good planning and consolidation'. The Conservation Council also said:

We feel that the ad hoc or first-across-the-line approach for ports infrastructure is not in the best interests of investors, the community, or the environment, and is leading to excessive and unnecessary costs.

My questions to the minister are:

1. Does the government have a strategy for mineral exports and port development in Spencer Gulf or does it really believe that infrastructure planning in public places (such as the gulf) is best left to private mining companies?

2. Does the minister really believe that every mining company having its own port is either efficient or economic?

3. What leverage does the government intend to use to force mining companies to share facilities, or is it happy to see the sorts of disputes over infrastructure that have dominated the mining industry in Western Australia?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for his important questions and I will refer them to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure in another place and bring back a response. I am quite confident that we are not, indeed, encouraging each individual company to build its own port or necessarily all of its own infrastructure. What we rely on are industries looking for the best way to move forward, and that includes looking at partnerships and cooperative arrangements, particularly around infrastructure. We are always encouraging that, particularly looking at options of port sharing and other major infrastructure sharing initiatives but, as I said, in terms of the detailed responses for that question, I am happy to take them on notice and bring back a response.