<!--The Official Report of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia are covered by parliamentary privilege. Republication by others is not afforded the same protection and may result in exposure to legal liability if the material is defamatory. You may copy and make use of excerpts of proceedings where (1) you attribute the Parliament as the source, (2) you assume the risk of liability if the manner of your use is defamatory, (3) you do not use the material for the purpose of advertising, satire or ridicule, or to misrepresent members of Parliament, and (4) your use of the extracts is fair, accurate and not misleading. Copyright in the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates is held by the Attorney-General of South Australia.-->
<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="4.0" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
  <name>Legislative Council</name>
  <date date="2025-08-19T14:15:00+09:30" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>55</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>1</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>Legislative Council</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="9271" />
  <endPage num="9325" />
  <dateModified time="2025-09-10T10:41:41+09:30" />
  <proceeding continued="true" uid="00470b70886645cdbb25fa2b6193b783">
    <name>Answers to Questions</name>
    <subject uid="1c174e3963914fcdb0f8ec2c7a216a4a">
      <name>Whyalla Employment</name>
      <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000853">
        <inserted>
          <heading>Whyalla Employment</heading>
        </inserted>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="2742" referenceid="1df522b2c3094a7386fc17e1fb16d162" uid="84a119fb71d3423cafb35707d244e87b" kind="question">
        <name>The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-08-19T04:45:00+09:30">
            <name>Whyalla Employment</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <startTime time="2025-08-20T00:00:00+09:30" />
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000854">
          <inserted>
            <timeStamp time="2025-08-20T00:00:00+09:30" />In reply to <by role="member" id="2742" referenceid="1df522b2c3094a7386fc17e1fb16d162" uid="84a119fb71d3423cafb35707d244e87b">the Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK </by>().20 February 2025).  </inserted>
        </text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="72b3a23584a74577a9894b34fa996657" kind="answer">
        <name>The Hon. K.J. MAHER</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Aboriginal Affairs</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Attorney-General</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Special Minister of State</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-08-19T04:45:00+09:30">
            <name>Whyalla Employment</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000855">
          <inserted>
            <by role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="72b3a23584a74577a9894b34fa996657">The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State):</by>  The Minister for Energy and Mining advises:</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000856">
          <inserted>GFG Alliance made a series of staff cuts in 2024 citing a prolonged downturn in the global market and planned redundancies consistent with their mine transition plans. In total, we are aware of approximately 400 job losses, directly or indirectly relating to the Whyalla operations.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000857">
          <inserted>Since then, underpinned by the state and federal government's co-investment to fund the administration, we have been advised that the administrators are working to convert some of their contractors to permanent staff and are also creating approximately 63 additional full-time roles.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000858">
          <inserted>The South Australian and Australian governments have developed a comprehensive support program to support Whyalla and affected staff, which is in addition to supports usually offered. This includes, mental health and family support, financial advisory services, the Spencer Gulf Jobs and Skills Hub, the Regional and Industrial Partnerships Program, career transition services, free accredited training, the Apprentice Retention Program and more.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000859">
          <inserted>Numerous means of outreach have been undertaken, including community and workforce forums and representation by unions and other organisations. We have ensured widespread knowledge of these support programs and will work with those impacted at whatever time they are ready and/or able to engage with these services.</inserted>
        </text>
        <page num="9323" />
        <text id="202508190daa8cf6ee104638b0000860">
          <inserted>The South Australian and Australian governments are investing to secure the long-term future of the Whyalla Steelworks and jobs in the region.</inserted>
        </text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>