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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-25 Daily Xml
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GFG Alliance

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:21): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer a question about GFG Alliance, the owner of the Whyalla Steelworks.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: As has been widely reported, GFG, headed by British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta, was plunged into crisis earlier this year when its financier Greensill collapsed. According to media reports, that led to the company having to refinance about $US5 billion in debt globally, with the Australian arm understood to be about $430 million of that amount.

The Premier recently visited Whyalla to attend a mining conference in the town and told delegates that the completion of GFG Alliance's refinancing process was imminent. Further, the Premier revealed that once GFG had secured its refinancing, the state government would move to finally commit to a $50 million payment the previous Labor government had promised the company, and something this government committed to honouring, to be spent improving the ongoing viability and sustainability of the Whyalla Steelworks. My questions to the Treasurer are:

1. Have you, the Premier or any other government minister or member of the steel task force been approached by GFG Alliance or any subsidiary company in recent weeks requesting payment of the $50 million?

2. When was the last time the state government representatives met with or communicated with GFG?

3. When do you envisage the $50 million payment will be made to GFG Alliance, and the terms and conditions of that payment?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:23): There have been, there are and there will be ongoing discussions between representatives of the government, in particular at officer level, steel industry task force and senior management of GFG, in relation to the issues that the Hon. Mr Pangallo has raised. Insofar as they relate to any potential payment of the $50 million promise the former government made, which this government with conditions was prepared to continue, there have been a number of discussions with GFG over a long period of time and they continue.

GFG is quite clear that the state government will not expend any portion or all of the $50 million of taxpayers' funding unless it meets the conditions that I have publicly outlined before. They are, broadly, that they are funds that would be directed towards some either infrastructure project or some project which is going to assist the long-term viability of the Whyalla Steelworks.

As I have said publicly—and I repeat today—we are not prepared to provide $50 million of taxpayer funding, in whole or in part, to repay past debts or expenditures. We are interested to meet the commitment the former government made that if there was a project or projects which assists the long-term viability of the Whyalla Steelworks we are prepared to look at projects along those lines and are prepared to commit taxpayer funding towards those projects.

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