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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-06-21 Daily Xml
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MINING DEVELOPMENT

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (15:04): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: As the council would have heard me saying in the past, South Australia has great advantages due to its particular geology. This means that there is considerable interest from mining companies about how they can capitalise on our mineral resources through exploration and the development of mines. There are a number of sites of interest across the state but, of course, it is the centre of our state, the Gawler Craton, which is a particular focus for this sort of activity. My question is: will the minister update the council on assistance to local communities to build the capability to participate in mining developments?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for his question and his legendary impact on this most important area. Indeed, it is an exciting time for South Australia. The government has recognised that and committed to assist the communities to capitalise on these developments through the creation of the Upper Spencer Gulf and Outback Enterprise Zone Fund.

The benefits that communities hope to reap obviously include employment of people living in the area. The obvious labour pool for companies looking to expand their activity in the central and northern areas of our state is the Indigenous workforce, and I understand that some companies are already working with Aboriginal communities to facilitate employment participation. It can be difficult to make the change from unemployment to a world of work, and those changes can be very challenging. I am therefore pleased to announce today that I have approved a grant of $60,000 to the Port Augusta city council for a pilot project to mentor and assist Indigenous employees in the mining and resource sector.

The mentoring project aims to provide off-site assistance to Indigenous mining employees through working with them to manage some of the issues they face and helping to build the skills they need to deal with financial management, organisation of transport and accommodation. This one-year pilot project will seek to decrease welfare dependency through increased employment, to encourage workforce participation and to provide positive local economic stimulus through employment of local people. Importantly, it is hoped that the mining companies will more actively seek to recruit Indigenous workers as they will be ensured that a mentor would be able to provide assistance.

In addition, other benefits that may flow from the mentoring project are the reinforcing of positive role models for the community, increased economic independence and security for employees. The proponents of the proposal hope to make the mentoring a continuing feature by training employees to themselves act as mentors and examples for other Indigenous employees entering the mining industry. I am advised that the project will call on expertise from the Port Augusta City Council, the federal Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and also Regional Development Australia Far North to help guide the mentor.

Port Augusta, as members may be aware, is well suited to provide skills and labour to the Upper Spencer Gulf and the Far North and employees for the mining industry. In addition to being an established population centre with an industrial base, it is an important centre for Indigenous communities from the north of the state. It is envisaged that the mentoring service, while based at Port Augusta, will provide services to residents in other centres such as Quorn and Hawker and have a capacity to extend services to areas further north, helping to bridge the gap between a mine site and an employee's home environment.

The Enterprise Zone Fund was established as a $4 million rolling fund available over four years aimed at recapturing the benefits of growing industries to further strengthen Upper Spencer Gulf and outback communities. The Enterprise Zone Fund, which is a competitive fund, can provide up to 50 per cent of funding for eligible project costs to develop community capacity and regional development. Eligible projects may come from a wide range of industry areas for projects that make a major impact by capitalising on existing competitive advantages or change competitive advantages in their favour.

To access the fund, eligible organisations including local government and outback regions, businesses and industry associations need to lodge their application with DTED, which carefully examines the proposals to ensure that they meet the guidelines and assessment criteria and contribute to the implementation of key strategic objectives such as those identified by South Australia's Strategic Plan and the Regional Development Australia Regional Roadmap. Potential applicants can access the guidelines and obtain further information to assist them by accessing the southaustralia.biz website.

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