Leigh Creek

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:48): A supplementary question: regarding company maintained infrastructure, is the minister confident that infrastructure will not be lost in that community so that the community does have a chance to succeed?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:48): It is the responsibility of Alinta to maintain the vast majority of infrastructure at Leigh Creek until the lease is surrendered. Alinta gave notice of the surrender of the lease in, I think, June or July last year and it is a three-year period from the giving of notice until that lease is surrendered. So Alinta has the responsibility of maintaining the vast majority of the infrastructure—it is essentially a company-run town—up until that time.

Certainly we will be using that time to look at how that is transitioned. The Outback Communities Authority is one organisation that we have been talking to and that has been helping us. That is a possibility in terms of what the future of Leigh Creek and its infrastructure might look like and how it might be managed in the future.