House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-05-08 Daily Xml

Contents

MARCOS ENGINEERING LIMITED

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:21): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier tell the house what progress has been made on plans to establish an Adelaide manufacturing base for the British Marcos Engineering TSO GT coupe? South Australians remember the pictures from England in 2005 of our Premier meeting officials of the Marcos Engineering company and announcing—yes, breaking news from overseas—plans to build more than 300 specialist sports cars a year, and it was an overseas trip coup de coupe.

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:22): I think the answer is: 'Not well.' There is the air warfare destroyers that is a big plus, the mining industry is a big plus, but I think the British sports cars was not, and I do not think there is any chance of seeing them—what was it, rack 'em, stack 'em and pack 'em? Although, when I heard the Deputy Premier talking about that yesterday on radio, I thought he was talking about what was going on in Liberal branch meetings with the current round of preselections. It sounds like what happened in Unley, and I understand there is a bit going on elsewhere around the place. No, I think the Marcos car is unlikely to be a goer in South Australia in terms of a massive manufacturing industry.