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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-26 Daily Xml
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Government Contracts

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Has H2U ever written, lobbied or made any unsolicited bids to the minister or government for access to government land, including Port Bonython, for any of their projects?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:07): I will check and get an answer. It wouldn't be unusual for a company that wants to access land to write to the government to ask if they can access the land, but let me check that.

It's almost as if those opposite don't want this project to get up. Our government will do every single thing that is appropriate and prudent with regard to the disposal of this land, but wouldn't it be good if we got a great result that a company, whoever it is, or maybe two or three or four companies—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —managed to access some of this land and use it for the development of a hydrogen industry? That would be terrific. I don't know why—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Playford!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —any of those people opposite would want to try to run that possibility down. We are very focused on hydrogen; it's one of the things that's in the memorandum of understanding. The memorandum of understanding, as I mentioned before, is focused around work that is ongoing, that is evolving, that is developing. I also said that we are very close to finalising a draft that would be the next evolution of that document. The first evolution of that document, the one that the Prime Minister and the Premier signed, is publicly available. We will make the next draft publicly available as soon as that's finalised.

There is nothing that we are trying to do other than just get on with the job of fixing the mess that we inherited with regard to energy, with regard to not only correcting the seemingly endless blackouts we used to have but correcting the fact that we had the most expensive electricity in the world—some people said—and correcting the fact that the previous government committed more than $600 million of taxpayers' money for dirty diesel generators. As well as correcting all that, we are looking forward, we are moving forward and we are evolving.

The hydrogen industry is one of those very important opportunities we have. It is quite natural that the MOU that is in place, that is public and that is already well known will evolve over time, exactly like the opportunities to contribute not only to cleaner energy export opportunity but to jobs—jobs in Adelaide, jobs in regional areas, jobs in Upper Spencer Gulf and the outback.

The suggestion that for some reason any company should be ruled in or ruled out is not the way we work. We are not at all concerned about talking positively about people's projects, organisations' projects and the things that they want to achieve in South Australia. When others come forward, and other opportunities, other organisations and other companies put a project on the table, if it looks good we will say it looks good. It is as simple as that.

Let me say again that, coming back to the heart of the question, it would not be unusual—if a company wants to access some government-owned land at a particular place to develop a project they have been talking about very publicly—if that organisation did approach the government to try to see if they can access that land. Let me check and just see if that has happened. It is no secret that H2U want to develop a project at Port Bonython, so it would not be a surprise if they had asked for that land.

With regard to that particular land, that is under the responsibility of the Treasurer to decide how to dispose of it. The Treasurer, the Department of Treasury and Finance and the Treasurer's office will go through all the appropriate steps to make sure that land is disposed of in the very best interest of South Australians. As the member opposite is a previous Treasurer, he will understand those obligations extremely well.

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