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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
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Mining Industry

Mr DULUK (Waite) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on the importance of the mining industry to growth in South Australia?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:24): Mining is outstanding.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Where's the bill?

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna and the member for Lee are also warned.

Mr Malinauskas: We talked about it at dinner the other night. You've got our support; bring it on.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: The bill you can't support.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned for a second and final time. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: You would think they would have the courage to stand up and ask the question, Mr Speaker, wouldn't you? The mining industry is incredibly important for our state—absolutely vitally important—and has been for decades. It employs thousands and thousands of people across our state. It represents approximately a third of our state's exports and of course produces vital material, which we use in South Australia and in Australia as well.

The Marshall Liberal government has taken $10 million of the Economic and Business Growth Fund and put it towards the advanced discovery fund. It is important to point out that, as well as the money from the Economic and Business Growth Fund, that fund has supported agriculture, tourism and a range of other industries as well. The advanced discovery fund will be $10 million over three years to support discovery in the minerals industry in South Australia. Importantly, it is to support expenditure and discovery that would otherwise not have happened without that taxpayer support and will enable more and more economic growth.

Mr Speaker, as you would know, royalties paid from our mining industry to government pay for our schools, our hospitals, our roads and our services. The mining industry not only employs people, not only shows purchases and capital and not only creates exports, but contributes to all the services that government supports throughout the state. This work will be an expansion of what typically has happened for nearly 30 years now. This is a big step, and it won't just be about supporting industry to drill holes.

While that is an opportunity, and it continues to be very important, this will be an opportunity for industry to partner with government and put their own money on the table to invest in additional geoscience, or collaborative technology investment, or logistics that support exploration in remote communities. There is a wide range of opportunities, much wider than has ever before been the case in South Australia.

It is very important for the house to understand that historically, over successive Liberal and Labor governments, when money has been on the table for this type of work, it has attracted, on average, 20 times more investment from private industry to match that. We have every reason to believe that the $10 million over three years that we put on the table will attract another $200 million, which will be spent in South Australia.

That money will be spent in South Australia. That money will create jobs and contribute to our economy, which will then flow through to benefits for our entire state. Every single citizen benefits when our economy is strong. But, of course, we do want some of this exploratory work to be fruitful and to work its way through to being productive and safe mines—safe mines with regard to people who work there, safe mines with regard to the environment and productive mines that contribute to our economy.

The Marshall Liberal government is taking a short, medium and long-term view with the budget. The money is on the table. It will leverage 20 times more money—that expenditure will start to flow quite quickly—but it will also support new mines that will start up in South Australia in the next five, 10 or 15 years, which will support our economy for decades to come.

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