Environment Protection Authority

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment and Conservation a question about the Environment Protection Authority.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: The government yesterday announced its intention to introduce legislation to parliament to extend environmental exemptions granted to the operator of the Whyalla steelworks. Under these exemptions, which were legislated in 2005 for a fixed 10-year period, the Environment Protection Authority has had a pollution licence over the steelworks cancelled and its ongoing licence powers suspended.

The EPA licence was replaced with a weaker licence negotiated between the mining minister and OneSteel, the then operator of the steelworks. Under the 2005 act, and apparently the proposed 2015 extension act, the EPA cannot update pollution licence conditions without company approval. Any national pollution standards, such as for particular matter or other harmful pollutants, will not apply to the steelworks, and key parts of the Environment Protection Act will not apply to the steelworks. These exemptions are now proposed to continue for another 10 years to 2025.

The Premier says that exempting the current operator of the Whyalla steelworks from environmental standards and EPA oversight is necessary to provide certainty and protect jobs. However, there is no evidence that requiring compliance with environmental standards will create or protect a single job. My questions are:

1. As the minister responsible for the EPA, has he lost confidence in the ability of the EPA to regulate polluting industry in South Australia?

2. Has the minister received any feedback from the EPA in relation to their being sidelined for another 10 years in relation to the Whyalla steelworks?

3. In addition to the Whyalla steelworks, are there any other industries in South Australia the minister believes should be exempted from environment standards and EPA oversight?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:37): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. I, too, like the honourable member (and most honourable members, I expect) am aware that the Whyalla Steel Works (Environmental Authorisation) Amendment Bill is commencing its parliamentary consideration today in the House of Assembly. The bill, to be brought forward by the minister, seeks to extend the current indenture legislation under which Arrium (formerly known as OneSteel) currently operates and which is due to expire, I am advised, on 3 November this year.

I am advised that the Environment Protection Authority is aware of the proposed extension and has been working with the Department of State Development and Arrium to transition operations to an environmental authorisation under the Environment Protection Act. Arrium has demonstrated a strong commitment to meeting its environmental obligations in the recent year, I am advised. I am also advised that the proposed extension is unlikely to impact on the EPA's ability effectively to regulate Arrium and negotiate environmental improvements for the benefit of the Whyalla community and the broader state's interests.

For example, under the current indenture legislation I am told that Arrium has invested some $400 million on a project that resulted in significant environmental improvement in and around Whyalla. Primarily, I am told, the virtual elimination of red dust impacts, which have impacted the city for many years, has been accomplished through this investment.

The proposed extension of the indenture for the further 10 years is needed to give Arrium certainty and to protect jobs in the region. I do not think you will find too many people in this parliament who would be wanting to make such a very important industry in Whyalla, in the north-west of the state, any more precarious than it otherwise would be, particularly noting the lack of support for industry and industry development from the federal Liberal government in South Australia.

You sometimes need to wonder what the federal Liberal government has got against South Australians. They come to South Australia with no support, they drive the car industry out of this country, they break promises they have made to this state and South Australians during their election campaigns about the building of future submarines in South Australia, and all the time we have the suspicion, confirmed time and again from people in the know from Canberra, that they have done secret deals with other nations about building submarines offshore, having all the time known that they have promised those submarines to South Australia during an election campaign.

How on earth can you do business with an organisation like that, that calls themselves a federal government but are not worth their word? I have to say that it is only this state that will stand up for our local communities and our employing businesses like Arrium. I understand that the current indenture licence covers a number of activities of environmental significance and includes conditions to manage and monitor potential impacts, such as marine wastewater, discharge and dust.

Upon any extension of the Whyalla Steel Works Act 1958, the EPA will seek to have conditions of the indenture licence reviewed and, where necessary, amended to reflect current operations. The EPA will continue to encourage Arrium, as it has done previously, to move towards a licence under the EP Act 1993 but, regardless of that, the EPA and Arrium have been working very closely to improve its environmental impacts and that will continue.