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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-04 Daily Xml
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GFG Alliance

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:43): I rise today to talk about GFG and Greensill, which has been a topic in a number of articles now in the press, both internationally and here in Australia. I am not going to go into the details about the financing, given the complexity and the murkiness surrounding the financing that has been entered into. It is probably suffice to say that GFG does have a very significant exposure to Greensill, as does Greensill have to GFG. It is a fast-evolving situation, so we will see over the days to come where we will end.

What I do want to talk about, though, is the positive element when it comes to GFG in Australia and the various arms of its operation in this country. When I look at my community of Whyalla, we have seen a turnaround in the steel industry in Whyalla to the point where it is now in the black. Hopefully, that will continue for some time. Its order books are full. When we look at the mines at Whyalla, the hematite exported from Whyalla is fetching a real premium at the moment with high commodity prices. The export of hematite through the port at Whyalla is making a lot of money.

It is worthwhile also talking about the port itself. The previous Labor government put $50 million on the table prior to Gupta being the successful bidder for the steelworks. When that $50 million was put on the table, it was partly predicated on opening up the port in Whyalla to third-party use. I would have to say that GFG and SIMEC Mining have moved in that direction. We are now seeing third-party users export through Whyalla. We have OZ Minerals with copper concentrate from Carrapateena being exported from Whyalla.

A number of other companies are lining up to negotiate about exporting through Whyalla. It is being used as an import point as well. I could talk about ports for a long time and some of the, I think, misguided stuff that is going on in our state when it comes to ports. I would say in relation to the Whyalla port that the sensible option for the north-west, the sensible option for the Gawler Craton, is to consolidate and expand at Whyalla, given the presence of the industrial infrastructure, given the presence of an actual port and given the presence of a labour force.

Of course, we have had flagged by GFG the commitment to build a 280-megawatt solar plant at Whyalla and, longer term, the hydrogen vision. It is a vision that has been adopted in a number of other countries when it comes to producing green steel. Sweden stands out, as does Germany, in the work being done in that area.

What I want to say is that, irrespective of what is going on in the finance world, when you look at the assets in South Australia at Whyalla and when you look at the workforce in South Australia at Whyalla, there is the potential for a strong future, but that strong future will require vision. It is a vision that matches the vision of the Playford government from many years ago when it came to establishing an integrated steelworks in Whyalla, with the very strong bipartisan support of the Labor Party at the time.

In the mines at Whyalla, magnetite is used as the feedstock for iron and steel production. Work is going on to establish the JORC reserve, and odds are there is going to be a billion-plus tonnes of magnetite in the Middleback Ranges on Whyalla's doorstep. It is enough ore to do value-adding for many years to come in addition to potentially having an export industry. It is value-adding that we need to retain in this state irrespective of what is going to happen over the coming days.

It is going to require vision, and it is going to require the Treasurer going back on the comments in the upper house on Tuesday that there is $50 million—that we put on the table as a Labor government—and nothing more for the operation at Whyalla. That is not good enough. That is not a vision. When Nyrstar was saved in this state, there was $300 million from a Labor government to underwrite that. We need vision and we need commitment.

Time expired.

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