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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-06 Daily Xml
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Penrice Soda

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (16:32): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade. Is the taxpayer exposed to any financial risk as a result of any loans or grants to Penrice Soda or contingent liabilities such as site remediation now that the company is in administration?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Automotive Transformation) (16:32): The government did what it could to help Penrice Soda. The advice that I have—and I will make sure I will correct it if it is incorrect—is that we are unsecured creditors. We gave Penrice Soda royalty relief. Given the long list of people seeking redress through proceedings that are in place now, I am not sure what the total amount of forgone royalties will be, but I will get that amount and get back to the house. The government makes no apology for doing that.

The government has very few tools at its disposal to help companies like Penrice Soda. The one that we could introduce very, very quickly, which is very effective, was royalty relief. I think that was a very good measure. I know that the former member for Schubert was very keen for me to be involved in that; in fact, he lobbied on behalf of Penrice Soda for royalty relief. It is something that the government was very happy to do. In terms of our ability to regain those forgone royalties, I have to seek more advice, but it does not look good, given the state of what is being told to creditors now. Mr Speaker, I will get a detailed answer to the house and give the member a briefing.

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