Legislative Council Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Alinta Energy Alinta Energy The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK Legislative Council Alinta Energy The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment a question regarding Alinta Energy workers at Port Augusta and Leigh Creek. Leave granted. The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK Legislative Council The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: On 17 November 2015, the minister delivered a ministerial statement on Leigh Creek and stated: The state government's priority is the 440 workers at Port Augusta and Leigh Creek who will lose their jobs as a result of the closure of Alinta's operations... This came only months after Alinta Energy had approached the government for $25 million to keep the Port Augusta power station operating. My questions to the minister are: 1.	Will the minister admit to being a complete hypocrite when he made that statement, given that his government had the opportunity to keep the Port Augusta power station in operation for $25 million and refused to do so? 2.	Did the minister inform the workers that his government had the opportunity to keep the power station in operation and save their jobs and chose not to do so? 3.	Will the minister apologise to the workers for his betrayal? The Hon. K.J. MAHER Legislative Council Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy 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) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for her questions. Answer to No. 1: no. Answer to No. 2: I have spent a lot of time with workers in both Leigh Creek and Port Augusta. These workers are very skilled and highly trained and they did everything that was in their power and their skills to keep operating what was an inefficient power station that was losing money. We have seen some projects in the area give great transformation to the area. Sundrop Farms is one such example, which has provided up to a couple hundred jobs now. What we wouldn't do—as I have already explained, but obviously the Hon. Michelle Lensink wasn't listening—what we didn't do, as their boss in Canberra, the Prime Minister, wouldn't do either, is bail out a coal-fired power station when we are seeing them close right around Australia and right around the world. That's not what we were going to do.