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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-15 Daily Xml
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MINERAL RESOURCES

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Why is it critical that the government fosters investment in South Australia, particularly in our resources sector?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:14): I thank the honourable member for her question. Since the settlement of this state, South Australia has relied upon investors from across the nation and indeed the world to fund our economic development. Simply put: the savings that we have in this state are not adequate to fund the capital investments that are necessary to develop our state. So, yesterday morning, I opened the 2012 Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Conference at the Convention Centre. This is a massive conference, and it represents energy producers for almost 98 per cent of Australia's oil and gas resources, and the conference has attracted over 2,700 registered attendees to hear about investment opportunities that are available in this state.

South Australia has a history of natural gas which extends back to a number of important pioneers in this field, including Reg Sprigg, who is one of the founders of Santos. He believed that our state could have access to affordable energy through the Cooper Basin, and that has certainly proved to be the case. As detailed in the 'Roadmap for unconventional gas projects', which the government released yesterday, there are a vast range of other projects worth hundreds of millions—if not billions—of dollars in investment opportunities to this state.

I was also pleased to have the opportunity to meet His Excellency Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi Arabian Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Affairs, who was a plenary speaker. He wasn't actually in town to watch a horse race; rather, he was in town to be a speaker at this conference. I also had the opportunity to meet with the federal energy minister, Hon. Martin Ferguson. Also attending the conference was the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. The conference attracted national and international industry leaders from companies including BHP, Santos, Woodside and Chevron, as well as banks, hedge funds and other investors. This interest in Adelaide matched the interest that I saw when I was in London last week.

There is a growing awareness that the centre of gravity is shifting to the southern part of Australia, in terms of mining and resources, and that was apparent with the people I met in London, including Altona Energy and Anglo American, a very large corporate player in the mining sector. A number of other companies that I met in London observed that South Australia's model for case management was a highly respected one.

The other thing they noted is that they saw an above-average amount of interest that elected officials pay in companies making personal representations, and that was a very important factor in their investment decisions. You have to remember that these companies are making big and long-term investment decisions. They need to understand that the political environment is a secure and welcoming one for them, and so directly meeting leaders is absolutely crucial for those opportunities.

The other thing that is of interest to members is that a number of defence companies that are attracted here because of South Australia's reputation for being a defence state is given an additional impetus because of the mining opportunities that exist in South Australia. Many of these defence contractors actually do things other than defence; they have a range of activities that spread into the mining services sector, and so they see this as not only a great place to try and win some defence contracts but then expand into the mining and resources sector, and also use South Australia as a hub for Australia and also the Asia-Pacific.

A number of these companies are winning contracts in New Zealand, have ambitions to win contracts in Indonesia, and so there is an increasing awareness of our state, which can only be—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and that will only improve with the endeavours that we are taking at this important conference here in South Australia.

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