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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-31 Daily Xml
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Whyalla Steelworks

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:21): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition is out of order.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: It may not take two minutes. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer a question about the Whyalla Steelworks.

Leave granted.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for a brief explanation.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Okay, that's a warning. The Premier revealed GFG Alliance chairman, UK billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta, had reassured him over the future of the company's Whyalla Steelworks as Mr Gupta scrambled to refinance his global business empire following the collapse of financier Greensill. The Premier indicated the government's steel task force had met with GFG.

International reports have emerged that GFG Alliance has been denied a $307 million emergency bailout by the British government. Naturally, the people of Whyalla are growing increasingly nervous at these developments. My question to the Treasurer is:

1. Are you or the Premier, or any other government minister or member of the steel task force, going to speak as a matter of urgency with Mr Gupta, who is now entrenched in his Dubai bolthole?

2. Have administrators for Greensill visited the steelworks in recent days and been in contact with the government?

3. Has GFG indicated it is looking at selling off Whyalla?

4. Has GFG sought any financial relief or support from the South Australian government and the federal government?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:23): I can't add much more than the Premier and I have said previously in relation to the issue of the Whyalla Steelworks and GFG. The government's line minister is Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan. The Premier is also actively engaged and I, obviously, have a close interest as the Treasurer as well. The Premier has indicated that he has had a conversation.

I believe the Minister for Energy and Mining has indicated that he has also had an earlier conversation with Mr Gupta, but most of the discussions, as one would expect with a global empire, are being conducted with Mr Gupta's representatives, who have an ongoing and detailed knowledge of local operations in Australia and in particular in South Australia.

Our task force is led by Mr Bruce Carter, who led the task force for the former Labor government and has had long experience in relation to the issue. I have recently approved the appointment of a senior Treasury officer with vast experience in relation to not only Whyalla but also the financial arrangements as they related to Nyrstar to be actively engaged with the task force. I know there have been recent discussions between the state-level officers in the task force and also federal-level officers on behalf of the federal government in relation to the issues.

The bottom line is, as I have said and so has the Premier, that the private discussions we have had both with Mr Gupta and his representatives have given us no greater detail than Mr Gupta has revealed to the financial markets; that is, in broad terms that his Australian operations are either cash flow positive or operating relatively well at the moment and that he was actively engaged in refinancing his global operations.

He has given those assurances to the financial markets and publicly, and they are the same assurances that he is giving to the state government and, I assume, also possibly the federal government. In relation to what the administrators of Greensill might be doing, I can't throw any light on that. I don't know what work they are undertaking or where they have visited.

Finally, in relation to financial arrangements, I can't add anything more than I have said on a number of occasions; that is, the former Labor government promised $50 million to GFG for a series of works to improve the ongoing viability and sustainability of the steelworks at Whyalla. When we were elected, we said we would honour the promise the former Labor government had made, and we have budgeted to honour that particular promise.

As I have told this chamber on a number of occasions, we are not prepared to see the $50 million expended on paying out either debts or suppliers. Our requirement on that, as was the former Labor government's, was that it would be spent on tangible infrastructure projects at Whyalla, which would assist the ongoing sustainability and viability of the steelworks there.

If I could conclude, I am sure the honourable member's views are the same as mine and the same as the opposition's: we are all united in wanting to see an ongoing, viable steelworks at Whyalla. There is a shared goal and the good people of Whyalla—the workers and their families and the businesses in Whyalla—want to see that shared goal as well.

We remain committed to working with all parties that are involved in relation to this to try to ensure that that is the end result of the current challenges that confront GFG. But until we get greater clarity on what exactly is going to happen to Greensill and what success or otherwise Mr Gupta and GFG have with refinancing, we are not in a position to be able to clarify the various alternatives that may or may not present themselves to both the federal government and the state government.

The PRESIDENT: The time for questions has expired. We didn't quite get to the Hon. Ms Pnevmatikos, but I would like to wish her a very happy birthday from the Chair.

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