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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-09 Daily Xml
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ROXBY DOWNS (INDENTURE RATIFICATION) (AMENDMENT OF INDENTURE) AMENDMENT BILL

Referred to Select Committee

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon A. Koutsantonis (resumed on motion).

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:44): In continuing on this bill and in summing it up, this indenture bill is not just about this generation, nor is it about the next generation. It is about all future generations, and I would like to think that history will bear the result of this week's agreement and how well this government has negotiated a deal for Australia. Just speaking about the negotiation, I look at what South Australia has achieved, particularly with the partnership between the state government, South Australia and Santos and what Santos has done to give something back to South Australia. I look at the education that is needed as a foundation for the mining sector and the expertise that we as South Australians can offer. I particularly look at the model in Western Australia, where high schools have subjects that lead to university. In universities, there are specific degrees and specific specialty areas that complement what the mining industries need.

As I say, it is not just about Roxby: it is about all mining sectors right around this great nation. Again, it is about embarking on what South Australia can achieve over the next 100 years. Looking at those negotiations, I look at the government and what it could have done but what I did not see happen. Why didn't the government look at what BHP could do for South Australia's capital here in Adelaide?

We look at the debacle that has gone on about the cost blowouts of the Adelaide Oval upgrade. Why didn't the government go to BHP and say, 'Would you be prepared to be a partner in the Adelaide Oval?' Rather than looking at an Adelaide Oval, we could be looking at the BHP stadium. BHP has huge wealth. It is about a partnership, it is about a negotiation that South Australia could benefit from, something that BHP would give back to South Australia, and I think that could have been achieved in goodwill.

Madam Speaker, I even listened to you on radio in regard to BHP giving back something of substance to the regions impacted upon, and that is a real social benefit that I think is worth talking about. I am convinced that the previous premier was in so much of a hurry to sign up to this agreement that he never even thought about these opportunities, never even thought them through. It really is about getting the balance right.

Without further ado, I wish the partnership between BHP and South Australia every success and great economic prosperity.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (15:48): As we all know, this is an historic development. It is a fantastic opportunity for South Australia. Obviously, in the process we need to ensure that the environment is protected and that the standards agreed to are enforced and met. I am disappointed in a way—and I guess there is still opportunity—that we are not availing ourselves of nuclear power as part of this project.

It is ironical that we are exporting uranium oxide to other people to use but we cannot use it ourselves. To me, I think that is unfortunate. Members would appreciate that throughout the world the technology relating to the use of nuclear power is changing and will change even more in the very near future so that we will have much less waste material as a result of using nuclear energy, we will have a much more efficient process, and there will be less waste to deal with.

I think it is important that people move beyond the view of years ago that anything to do with nuclear energy is dangerous and the like. If used properly, it is a wonderful resource, I believe, if used appropriately with proper safeguards and proper disposal. Australia is ideally suited to dealing with nuclear waste by way of storage. We have some very geologically stable areas, and we should be in this project gearing up to use nuclear energy now.

I do not believe it is ruled out. Things can change over time. If you think about this project, years ago it was seen as something that was undesirable, and now that has certainly changed. On the issue of nuclear power, as I say, new technologies are emerging and portable nuclear plants are being used in places like South Africa and do not require huge amounts of water for cooling.

We should be using some of that new technology to power desalination plants—and it could have been used for this project—to generate electricity and so on. I believe it would have been quite feasible to have had a nuclear-powered desalination plant producing the desalinated water somewhere other than where it may pose a threat to the natural environment at the top of Spencer Gulf.

I do not want to say too much about this project, but I think it is fantastic. The scope of it is almost beyond our immediate understanding. This is a bit of a digression and a bit of trivia, I guess: I notice that in the Soviet Union they have a huge hole from a mine where, as a result of that mine—and I am not a physicist, but I am told that aircraft are not allowed to fly over it because of the danger, presumably, of being sucked down.

I do not know whether that is going to happen with this big hole, but I think someone should tell our former colleague, the Hon. Graham Gunn, if he is still getting around in that little Cessna or whatever he has, to avoid the big hole that will occur up near Roxby. I understand the physics of it is that, if you fly over a big hole like that, you get pulled down. However, I stand to be corrected.

I conclude by looking forward to this project developing and being implemented. BHP is a fantastic company and I think the benefits to not only South Australia but Australia will be enormous. Some people have argued that the royalties should be renegotiated in years ahead. You need to have some certainty, but I believe that BHP will be a good corporate citizen—it already is—and will build on its track record in developing what is a fantastic project. I commend all of those involved in getting it to this stage and look forward to it being developed as a massive mine to benefit South Australia and Australia.

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:52): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your new appointment and your elevation to that great position that you hold in this place.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you.

Mr BIGNELL: I rise to support wholeheartedly this bill and to congratulate everyone who has worked on this for so many years. I do not even know whether South Australians and Australians have got their heads around how big this is yet. Sometimes, when things are just so huge, it is impossible to imagine the magnitude and the enormity of something like this. This is something that is going to benefit this state for decades and decades to come.

I think we probably need to change the perception in areas away from Roxby Downs. I think people in places like Mawson, which is a fair way from Roxby Downs, and other seats down here closer to the city and in regional parts of South Australia, need to work out what it is that they can leverage off this expansion. For every job that is created up there, there are many more jobs that will be created in support industries in other parts of the state, including in southern Adelaide.

That is why, in 2008, I hired a bus and took 30 students from three different high schools—Christies Beach, Wirreanda and Reynella East—up to Roxby Downs to show them firsthand the enormity of this project and to look at what the expansion would mean for not only Roxby but areas around Lonsdale, Hackham, McLaren Vale and Reynella, where industries are producing absolutely great technology and great things that are needed for the mining industry. This includes places like Fibrelogic and Boart Longyear.

We took the students up to Roxby Downs and BHP were magnificent in having their HR people talk to the students about the sort of money that they could earn, the jobs that they would be doing up there. They also took them around on the bus inside the above-ground part of the mine. When we got back, we had the local TAFE and some local engineering companies come along to the school to put it into perspective: 'Look, you don't have to go all the way to Roxby Downs to work and be part of this mining boom. You can actually get a job around the corner from home if that's what you want to do.'

There were kids who were dead keen to get up to Roxby and work. There was a young woman, about 17, a mechanic. She was doing her apprenticeship while still at school, and she was keen to get up and work at Roxby Downs. There was another fellow who did not really know why he came on the bus but, when we walked through the mess where they have their meals—and there are thousand of meals produced each day for the miners, either for breakfast, or to take down the mine with them in packs, or to have in the facility at lunchtime or dinner time—we looked at the kitchen and we saw the scale of it, and he said, 'That's it, I want to be a cook or a chef.'

That is what opened his eyes to getting a job at Roxby Downs. So, I think taking the kids up there, and getting their parents excited, is something that we all need to do. We also probably need to have an education program for businesses, and let them know of the opportunities and the way in which they could possibly get involved and reap some of the economic rewards that will come from this massive project.

It is something we have done with the Southern Expressway, where the Chair of the Southern Expressway Taskforce and I have been ensuring that we get together with all the local councils, local employer groups, training groups, schools and unions to make sure that 50 per cent of the 1,500 jobs that go on the build for the Southern Expressway go to people living in southern Adelaide. Perhaps that is something we could do as well: align BHP with businesses throughout South Australia so that they know what is out there and what are the capabilities.

I was interested in the comments from the member for Chaffey when he suggested that BHP Billiton should become a major sponsor of things and that the government was left a little short with its funding and had to increase the funding for Adelaide Oval, and that perhaps we should have asked BHP Billiton to fund it and call it BHP Stadium. I am dead against that. I think the Adelaide Oval should always be called Adelaide Oval. I hate the fact that football at an SANFL level and AFL level sells off the names of stadiums, and I think it is something that is going to turn around and bite the game, because—

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

Mr BIGNELL: Hickinbotham Oval is actually named after a legend of the club. It is named after a legend of the club, and it is called Hickinbotham Oval, so that is its name. It is not something that is going to get traded off year-in, year-out. What happens when you sell off the naming rights to stadiums is that it confuses the consumer—the football fan—and people lose interest in football when they say 'I don't even know where that game is being played' because it is an obscure name that they have never heard of in some part of the state or Australia.

One thing, perhaps (and this is a little in jest) that BHP might want to sponsor is the Piazza della Valle, which was opened by the Premier last Sunday. I realised that one of their senior executives has the surname Dalla Valle. The government put in $1 million to the project, and the community stumped up $600,000 but, perhaps, we could tell this bloke that we are naming the piazza in the main street of McLaren Vale after him, and they might put up the money. As I said, that was a light aside. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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