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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-02-07 Daily Xml
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NYRSTAR

Mr BROCK (Frome) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade. Can the minister please advise what progress the South Australian government task force has made since the 3 December 2012 announcement regarding the proposed transformation of Nyrstar's Port Pirie smelter? Also, could the minister please advise the benefits to Port Pirie and the region?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Small Business) (15:00): I will start by commending the member for Frome for his advocacy on behalf of his local community because, even though I have only just come into this portfolio, I know that the member for Frome has spent countless hours talking to and lobbying the Premier, and also the former minister, making sure that the interests of Frome and the people of Port Pirie in particular were looked after. It is a critical thing; this is a critical part of Port Pirie. Port Pirie would, quite frankly, die without the continued existence of the smelter at Nyrstar. The member for Frome understands that and he has never once failed to advocate on their behalf.

Since December when they met last year, the work of the task force has continued, and I am pleased to advise that this work is progressing on many fronts to ensure that the final investment case can be completed by the end of 2013, with a view to a new, cleaner processing plant being commissioned in early 2016.

The most recent task force meeting was held on 31 January, involving senior officials from the state government, the Australian government and Nyrstar. The state government's case management approach is coordinating expertise and input of officials from key state government agencies such as the Department for Health and the Environment Protection Authority, using a structure of eight working parties. It is a complex arrangement. It is looking towards environmental improvement, a targeted lead abatement program, development assessment, feasibility studies, legislation and legal agreements.

I am advised that the task force is on track towards achieving a range of key activities and milestones throughout the next 12 months. The outcomes of the task force are imperative to ensuring that all key milestones are achieved in a timely manner, so that the government and Nyrstar can make final decisions in the first quarter of 2014. The formal feasibility studies (both prefeasibility and bankable feasibility) for the transformation will provide an important foundation for the investment decisions. I understand Nyrstar is rapidly progressing both studies.

Work continues apace. The government obviously has its full support behind Nyrstar. This is an important project for Port Pirie. The absence of the smelter would see a drop in land prices and a crash in employment. It would be the decimation, or worse, of Port Pirie and it just cannot be contemplated. The excellent work of the former minister and Bruce Carter and his team to come up with quite a sophisticated deal in support of Nyrstar is to be commended as is, once again, the work of the member for Frome in support of his community.

MEMORIAL SERVICE, MINISTERIAL ATTENDANCE

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): My question again is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Is the minister asserting that the three women, as she described, who were murdered whilst going about their lawful business were not members of the PKK?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:03): I don't know where the member for Bragg is going with this. No, I didn't say that at all. What I said was that in relation to the Adelaide Kurdish Youth Society, I have had no reason to believe, I have had no briefing nor do I expect to get a briefing, indicating that there is anything untoward with this community organisation that I visited.

When I give an undertaking to a community group that I will attend a function, I try my very best to honour that. I gave them a commitment while I was overseas that I would attend and I attended the night I returned from overseas. I know there are circumstances where people do not turn up to functions; I understand that. I have been to many hundreds of multicultural events. I went to one—

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: Ninety-eight. The minister is clearly debating the answer and has strayed a long way from the question, which was quite direct.

The SPEAKER: On the contrary. I think the minister's remarks are still germane to the question.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I have attended other Kurdish events which have not been questioned in this place, and there have been Liberal members of parliament at those. I well remember going to the Semaphore Greek festival when the former leader was the shadow for multicultural affairs—and I assume she still is at this point in time. We have not heard of anyone else that is the shadow.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, deputy leader.

Ms CHAPMAN: Before we get on to the Greeks or any other multicultural events, my question was specifically whether it was the claim of this minister that the three women who were murdered in Paris, who she has described today as going about their lawful business, were members of the PKK—nothing to do with the Greeks or any other functions.

The Hon. J.M. Rankine: That's your claim.

Ms CHAPMAN: I am asking you: is that your claim?

The Hon. J.M. Rankine: It's your claim.

Ms CHAPMAN: Is it or not?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: No, it's your claim. They are your words, not my words.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I have answered that. When I give an undertaking to go to a function, I do it. There are many functions that could have some controversy around them—

The SPEAKER: Point of order from the member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: I do not actually believe you have given the minister the call.

The SPEAKER: The member for Finniss is quite correct. The Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, sir. One of the events, for example, is the Ukrainian memorial over the famine of the 1930s. I have been to that and I know you have been to that, sir. I know there was an event very recently where they were expecting a Liberal member of parliament to come along, and instead of that he tweeted that he was at the pictures.

The SPEAKER: Is the minister finished?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Yes.

MEMORIAL SERVICE, MINISTERIAL ATTENDANCE

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:06): My question is to the Premier. Is it the Premier's position that it is acceptable for members of his ministry or senior government representatives to attend memorial services for members of a banned terrorist group?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (15:07): This is an extraordinary line of questioning. I make no such assertion, and neither has the minister, about the matters that have just been mentioned in the question. What is asserted here is the role of a minister for multicultural and ethnic affairs discharging faithfully her duties. I would have thought that about the last place she would want to be on the day of returning from a long overseas trip is discharging her duties to a local community in a faithful fashion, having proper regard to the sensitivities by amending her speech so as not in any way to be seen to be condoning violence or terrorism of any sort.

The truth is that the South Australian community is comprised of many communities that come from places where awful things happen, and some of the people that flee those places at different times may have been associated with one or other regimes who may have been themselves associated with cruel and awful acts. When they come to this state what they should expect is that the broader South Australian community embraces them and allows them as far as possible to turn their back on those awful things that happened, but a number of the communities still hold strong views about matters. They are entitled to express their view about those matters. We have to be careful to make sure that we do not involve ourselves in those controversies, and we take care to do that.

Going along and showing common purpose and common citizenship, which is at the heart of our multiculturalism and at the heart of the success of this state, is what has made this state the wonderful place that it is to live in, and those people come here hoping and believing that we will uphold those values. I must say, the views that are being espoused by this line of questioning are complete anathema to the sorts of things that we are trying to uphold in this state. I support the minister in her actions and I pay tribute to the way in which she has carefully gone about discharging her responsibilities.

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