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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-16 Daily Xml
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MINING INDUSTRY

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:26): My question is to the Premier. How can the government continue to spruik South Australia's mining credentials when ABS statistics released today show that mining jobs in South Australia are at a six-year low and there are fewer South Australians working in the SA mining industry today than what there were when you entered the parliament 25 years ago? ABS statistics released today show that, in the August quarter, South Australia's mining jobs had fallen to a six-year low—falling 700 in the quarter to 6,200—and more mining jobs existed in 1985 than they do today.

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) (14:27): I will just say that, on the issue of mining, I guess some of us have had to make the hard decisions over uranium. Upon becoming elected to government, we were approached by Paul Holloway and also by Robert Champion de Crespigny AC, and we were asked and advised to strongly invest in mining exploration.

I remember the words that were put to me that day were that we were about as underexplored as parts of Siberia, because that was the legacy of the former Liberal government. For some reason, the Liberals in this state are anti-mining—'We saw nothing.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: 127: improper motives to members opposite. The Premier is doing that and I ask that you ask him to refrain.

The SPEAKER: No, I do not think that is quite that case. I do not uphold that point of order.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Anyway, what happened was that we embarked on what is called the plan for accelerated exploration, or PACE. As a result of that, we have found mineral deposits everywhere around this state—from the APY lands to the Adelaide Hills. So, what we have seen is a very, very strong drive on exploration.

At one stage, I think it was about a tenfold increase in mining exploration, because when we announced we wanted a threefold increase in mining exploration the sneers of the snivellers were that that was impossible to achieve. Then we got a tenfold increase and now we have gone from the five mines that were operating in South Australia when the Liberals were in power to opening the 12th just a couple of weeks ago, and, over the next few months, 16 mines with another 30 in various stages of application. So, we will put our mining record up against the Liberals' any day. Just as I can say this: there will be more uranium mines on my watch than there ever was under the Liberals.

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