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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-04-13 Daily Xml
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Steel Industry

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (14:02): Merely entitled to my right to ask a question in the house, sir. Can the Treasurer update the house on the support provided to the local steel industry, both in the past and in the future?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Would the Treasurer be seated. The leader and the deputy leader are called to order, as is the member for Mount Gambier. The Treasurer hasn't said a word yet.

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is called to order. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:03): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I thank the member for his question, and I know his keen interest in this area. It was the member for Giles who first raised with the Premier the issue of cheap imported steel being dumped in the South Australian market and advocated for a change to the procurement policy for state government funded projects.

Shortly after, the state government through the Industry Participation Advocate mandated that all steel used on publicly funded projects must meet Australian standards and certification requirements. This policy gives local industry a competitive advantage against imports, as our steel manufacturers make some of the best steel products in the world and are supported by more than $4 million of funding over the next four years to ensure that South Australian projects use as much local steel as possible.

This reinforces our commitment to the steel industry and, of course, to our state. However, even before we changed the policy and before Arrium faced its current problems, this government had an excellent track record on sourcing local steel for public projects. Take the Adelaide Oval redevelopment, for instance, a project opposed by those opposite, which saw about 3,800 tonnes of structural steel used. All steel used was Australian supplied and fabricated in South Australia. Approximately 25 per cent of the steel was sourced from Arrium (previously OneSteel) with a majority coming from SA company Brice Metals.

The River Torrens pedestrian bridge—another project rejected by those opposite—used about 877 tonnes of steel sourced from Australian manufacturers. Nearly 10,000 tonnes of steel used on the Northern Expressway project was Australian supplied, and 1,620 tonnes of the 1,670 tonnes of steel used in the construction of the South Road Superway project was supplied by South Australian companies. The remainder was sourced from overseas, but it was not manufactured anywhere in Australia.

The new Royal Adelaide Hospital, despite suggestions to the contrary, used as much Australian and South Australian steel as possible at the time, with all steel used on the project being supplied by South Australian contractors and audited to meet the Australian standards. This is despite the contract being signed years before our current policy and before the unfortunate circumstances now facing Arrium.

Moving forward, the construction stage of Stage 2 of the Convention Centre has the South Australian company Samaras Group, a great South Australian success story, working on the fabrication, supply and installation of about 3,000 tonnes of structural steel, of which more than 60 per cent was sourced from Whyalla.

The O-Bahn City Access project is sourcing as much steel as possible from Arrium, about 1,700 tonnes. Hansen Yuncken has advised that, where possible, all steel will be sourced from Arrium for the Flinders Medical Centre Transforming Health redevelopment, a project requiring more than 3,000 tonnes of steel. Any product not available from Whyalla will be sourced from other Australian mills or contractors.

It is important to note that there will always be a need for some steel to be sourced from overseas, mainly because we do not manufacture all types of steel in this country. However, this proves that here, in South Australia, we have and we always will continue to put our steel industry first.

As we continue building South Australia, the Industry Participation Advocate will be working with future contractors on the Northern Connector, the Darlington Upgrade project, the Torrens to Torrens project and the Torrens Rail Junction to ensure that as much local steel as possible is used.

The combined infrastructure spending of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland will total more than $75 billion over the next four years. If these states showed the same discipline towards local procurement as we did, South Australia and Arrium would be big beneficiaries.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. The leader.

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