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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-06-18 Daily Xml
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Hydrogen Industry

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister advise the house about any current interest in developing a hydrogen industry and how this might benefit Upper Spencer Gulf?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:30): I want to thank the member for Giles.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He's not Scandinavian, no. I think he's Welsh. Close. Both have a problem with sunlight.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Too harsh? Too soon? I'm not Italian. Today, I was speaking at the Adelaide Convention Centre where the world conference on hydrogen was being held. It's fair to say that the amount of interest in hydrogen globally is evolving and changing. What we saw today, alongside each other, were two conferences. One was Copper to the World, which had, I think, over 500 people to hear the Premier's opening address. There was a much smaller crowd at the one I was at, obviously, the Hydrogen Conference alongside it. Both conferences were talking about the potentials of decarbonisation and the value it can give to South Australia.

What hydrogen can offer this state is the ability to decarbonise industrial processes and value-add here in the state. In the electorate of Giles, and in the electorate of—

Mr Pederick: Stuart?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Stuart—and Chaffey, we have some of the world's best magnetite resources anywhere in the world. Magnetite is a commodity of decarbonised green iron. What was clear today at the conference was the interest that international investors and governments have in what Australia, and indeed South Australia, is doing in the hydrogen story.

We have the best coincident wind and solar resources anywhere in the world. The government has collapsed six pieces of legislation into one for the Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Act, which allows us to better allow and regulate the production of gigawatt scale off-grid renewable energy. Why would you need that level of off-grid renewable energy? It's for industrial purposes.

What are those industrial purposes? Ultimately, we have a smelter at Olympic Dam, we have a smelter at Whyalla and we have a smelter at Port Pirie. We have abundant copper, we have abundant magnetite and we have workforces in those three cities in Upper Spencer Gulf and Eyre Peninsula prepared to get involved in this industry.

We can export decarbonised green iron. We can expand our copper mining in the Mid North. We could improve on our magnetite resources and process them at Port Pirie through the Braemar province into Port Pirie. There are magnificent opportunities for this state. What this conference today is uncovering is the global interest in what we are doing.

A number of other jurisdictions, indeed even the former government, pinned all their hopes on the export of hydrogen to different jurisdictions. That may happen one day; we are also supportive of exporting hydrogen. But what the world is coming to conclude is that you will use the hydrogen where you make it. That means we will value-add and go up the processing chain and add complexity to our economy in South Australia.

It's an opportunity for us to create more jobs in this state, it's an opportunity for us to decarbonise and it's an opportunity for our industrial towns, our industrial heartbeat, towns like Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie, to roar again and roar again in a way that is going to make the world listen because we have the commodities that the world needs to decarbonise and this government, through its prosperity plan, is doing all it can to encourage it.

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