Mitsubishi Motors Australia

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:50): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment a question regarding industry financial assistance principles.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: In his answer to a question on notice of 25 September, the minister advised that the government had industry financial assistance principles. My questions are:

1. What specifically are the government's industry financial assistance principles?

2. How do they differ from any other form of due diligence?

3. Were these principles applied when a government grant was provided to Mitsubishi?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:51): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in the way this government operates.

An honourable member: Just say you don't know.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: No, no. We saw a whole range of projects funded by the previous government; some went through a process and were recommended not to be funded but the Treasurer, the Premier, or somebody, maybe one of the minister's officers, decided to fund those projects. We made it reasonably clear before the election that we were going to have a different approach to the previous government.

The member opposite raises Mitsubishi, in particular, as an example. Mitsubishi Motors Australia has been in South Australia since 1980. The government took a view that this was a company we would like to see here, and it formally took up ownership of the Chrysler manufacturing site at Tonsley.

The South Australian government provided Mitsubishi with financial support of $2 million towards the capital expenditure needed to develop its new, purpose-built headquarters at Adelaide Airport. It is estimated that the investment by Mitsubishi will have a $60 million impact on gross state product, and Mitsubishi currently has a team of 180 employees in South Australia. Its future business plan has head office staff growing to approximately 200 employees. Mitsubishi plans to use its new, purpose-built Australian headquarters as the centre of its Australian operations. It plans to use the facility for dealer conferences, national sales, after sales, dealer and staff training, and national employee training.

The Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is also working on expanding its 'vehicle to home' EV system currently available in Japan to other markets, and Mitsubishi Motors Australia is investigating whether it can integrate the system into its new head office to test and demonstrate the technology in our market. Mitsubishi is seeking private investors to build the new, purpose-built facility at Adelaide Airport, which Mitsubishi will then lease for a minimum of 10 years. The total construction cost is estimated at around $26 million, and it will provide 96.4 construction jobs over the period of the build.

The Marshall Liberal government is committed to considering companies that provide a long-term strong return on investment. I might add, for members opposite, that their colleagues in Victoria were extremely aggressive, putting significantly more money on the table. It is interesting, this trying to pry businesses from one state to another; like the negotiations of the Andrews government to try to lure Mitsubishi away from South Australia.

I think it is a very good result. They have also got some long-term investments in electric cars, driverless cars and a whole range of technologies that the former government was starting to embrace that the new government has continued to embrace.

Mitsubishi will bring some of the new technology, and we have their national Australian headquarters here. Their market share in a range of vehicles is growing and, of course, Mitsubishi has a strong presence in a whole range of other consumer goods—electric, heavy engineering, heavy construction, earthmoving equipment. There is a whole range of opportunities that the government thought, from investing in Mitsubishi to try to get them to stay in South Australia, would benefit South Australians in the very long term. So we were happy to make that investment.