Doorstop - Whyalla, SA
10 December 2018
ROWAN RAMSEY, MEMBER FOR GREY: They eyes of Australia are on Whyalla today. Not surprisingly, we’ve got the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and the Premier of the State Steven Marshall here. Thank you both for being here. Senator Anne Ruston is behind me as well and other dignitaries. This is a big day for Whyalla. For the last 15 months, the steelworks in Whyalla have been own by GFG Alliance Sanjeev Gupta, right behind me, and today he announced that Whyalla is to have a longer life. A new steel plant, reinvestment. Council made a series of announcements about new hotels, solar farms. There is a lot happening around Whyalla, it’s a great day to be here, it’s a great place to be after some fairly tough times a couple of years ago. Things have really turned around and I have to say, from my behalf to the Prime Minister to the previous Prime Minister, to the Cabinet. Every time that I banged on the door and said, “We need help in Whyalla.” We have received it. Whether it be the ordering of the new rail, Tarcoola Line, the commitment to the inland rail, the anti-dumping legislations that were changed, or the beneficiation plants. At every turn, the Commonwealth Government has been there, I expect that to continue. I’m going to hand over now to the man of the day, Sanjeev.
SANJEEV GUPTA: This is a very humbling and very exciting day for me. Lots and lots of hard work, especially over the last 15 months since we bought the business. There’s been countless, countless nights, late nights and long days where the team has worked hard. There has been many, many different options considered [inaudible] is what I’m pretty proud of. Australia needs a [inaudible] it’s a country that still has a lot of building to do to provide the steel for that and be able to provide rail for our railroads which continue to grow. So I’m very excited, I’m very honoured, I’m very humbled to see the quality of leadership and support which we’ve received both from our leaders and politicians and also our partners from different ends of the world. I’m thankful to them, thank you.
JOURNALIST: Mr Gupta, how long will it… or what’s the timeline for this next generation? When will you sort of be able to say this [inaudible]?
SANJEEV GUPTA: The net gen work has already actually a lot of work has already happened and we have now today what we signed is the full engineering study which costs tens of millions of dollars which [inaudible] will undertake together with [inaudible]. That is expected to take 6 to 12 months. So let’s say 2019, by the end of 2019 we will have full bankable project which we will then look for partners to fund and then from then, if we start then, another 3 to 4 years. So this is a 5 year project.
JOURNALIST: Mr Gupta can you please direct your answers down this way. And do you plan on hiring any other staff members, any extra staff?
SANJEEV GUPTA: A new project of course, it’s a massive undertaking that will have thousands of new next generation staff members. But the transformation project is what actually is equally important and I sort of… that’s why I distance the two. Because the transformation project is now, the next gen is next gen. So while that is very exciting and I’m very, very passionate about it, what is more important is that we keep going on the last 15 months of work which has been focused on the transformation project, the new mill, the PCI plant and there’s several other ancillary projects which are being finalised now. The total spend on the transformation is over $1.3 billion. So that’s what’s really critical and important now for us for the next two to three years and for the next gen project.
JOURNALIST: Have you spoken to the staff about whether or not they’ll get the money back on their salaries they gave up when the plant was in administration?
SANJEEV GUPTA: All in good time. As soon as the mill starts making money, which is the plan - all in good time.
JOURNALIST: Thanks Mr Gupta. Prime Minister, I know you’re pressed for time…
ROWAN RAMSEY, MEMBER FOR GREY: I’m just going to… thank you Sanjeev. I’m just going to ask Steven Marshall to say a few words to you as well and I didn’t realise she was on my list but the newest Mayor of Whyalla, Claire McLaughlin. Thanks Steven.
STEVEN MARSHALL, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thanks Rowan. I’m very excited to be in Whyalla, I know the Prime Minister is very excited to be in Whyalla because this place has a fantastic future. It’s had a great history, now what it’s got is a great future and that’s great news for the people of Whyalla. But people of the Upper Spencer Gulf, and quite frankly, the people of our state and our nation. We really want to thank and acknowledge the hard work of Sanjeev Gupta, the GFG Alliance and the management team and the work they’ve put in over the last 15 months to come up with this incredible transformation agenda for this very important city in our nation. Now the State Government of course is backing this, we’ve got $50 million that we’re going to put towards the transformation. $100 million going to a brand new school and also $200 million going into state-wide upgrade of traineeships and apprenticeships. We’re backing Whyalla, we’re backing manufacturing in South Australia and we thank the Federal Government for all the work that they’re doing to make sure that this becomes a reality. Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Scott Morrison.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Steven. It’s great to be here in the comeback city of the turn-around state in South Australia under your leadership, Steven. It’s great to see the renewed confidence that is coming into the South Australian economy and it’s great to see the can-do spirit here in Whyalla.
It was just over two years ago when as Treasurer, working with the then-Prime Minister and Rowan Ramsey and the team here, that we were going through the very difficult administration process. And at that time we stepped up with around $50 million in loans, we stepped up with the rail steel project to ensure that there was the suppliers there and the businesses there that enabled the steel plant to be able to continue. And now we're gear-changing again and it's great to see that gear-change happening under Sanjeev Gupta. We're going into the next phase, the transformation of the plant, which will mean it has a long-term future. That investment is absolutely necessary to secure that and the confidence that Sanjeev has shown in this steel plant, in the workers of this steel plant and the capacity of this town and this wonderful city demonstrates I think what can be achieved. When you’re coming back from where they have come back from, I think it’s a remarkable achievement.
But I think everybody knows here the hard work that’s ahead, the challenge that's still ahead and that's why we will continue to be here, Rowan and I and the entire federal team, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Steven Marshall and the South Australian Government and Sanjeev to ensure that we continue to see the success of this project. There is a lot of work to do on all that but we believe in the future of Whyalla. It is the come-back city in the turnaround state and we look forward to that being realised in the months, in the years, in the decades ahead. We're committed to Australian industry and we have been doing that, whether it is our anti-dumping laws that we've put in place. We haven't been talking, we've been doing when it comes to what has been necessary here in Whyalla, making sure the support was there to make sure we could get to this day and we will get from this day to the next day with that same attitude of just getting on with it and doing it. Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it a potential concern with so much foreign investment, we've seen various people make presentations today, is that a sovereign risk in some was for Whyalla and Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't believe so at all and I approved Sanjeev's application as Treasurer at the time. I mean, Australia has always drawn capital from overseas for over 200 years. We've always had an excess of opportunities over investment capital in this country. That has always been the case, and we have the strongest rules in place you could imagine to ensure that any investment is happening in the national interest. And transforming the Whyalla steelworks - I could not think of something more in the national interest than that to secure the future of this city and the workers and the families and the community that live here.
JOURNALIST: That was a last-gasp rescue mission…
PRIME MINISTER: No, it was an investment in Whyalla's future by somebody who believes passionately in it. That’s what it was. And when I see someone who wants to do that, why wouldn't you want to back them in?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did today’s announcement by My Gupta also reinforce that renewables are the way forward for Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well there is always a mix and we support renewables, obviously, and we've been the supporter of the projects like the pumped hydro project, we stepped in on that several years ago. It is not a choice between them. You actually have to embrace both. They're all part of the energy mix. But it's important to realise that you continue to need reliable power supply, not just intermittent supply to ensure the future of Australia’s industry. And Labor's 45% emissions reduction target, as the Business Council of Australia has said, is an economy-wrecking target. I mean, we have a sensible target, it's 26 per cent, we’re going to meet it in 2030. We've met Kyoto 1, we’re going to meet Kyoto 2 and that is recognised. But you have to be sensible about it and get the balance in this right. We've got sensible emissions reduction targets, we’ve got $15 billion of investment going into renewable power right now, so there is no shortage of that investment going in and you know what the great thing about it is? It no longer needs, into the future, the high-cost subsidies that it used to. It is actually making sense all on its own as an economically viable investment. That's where you want these things to get to. You want them to stand on their own two feet, so how good is that? So a combination of renewables and reliable power generation, sensible emissions reductions targets, meeting our environmental commitments, that is the package we're offering and have always offered.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we wouldn't let a Chinese company build our 5G network, so are there any security concerns with letting a Chinese company building possibly the world’s largest steel plant?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you have any message for the people of Whyalla who have been waiting a long time to see some investments like these here in the town?
PRIME MINISTER: Congratulations and thanks for keeping the faith in Whyalla and to be hanging in there. We have been hanging in there with you. I mean, this has been one of the most difficult periods in Whyalla's history, these last three to five years, and they've had strong support from our Government, they have had strong support from the Marshall Government, they've had strong support from investors now coming in and seeing the potential. And it just goes to show, you know, the comeback can happen and they've stuck in there, and if you believe in it passionately and you know what you are on about and you believe in the future you are trying to create, well then that comeback is always possible and that's what we keep believing in for Whyalla and that's what Stephen has brought to the state of South Australia. I remember before the state election, I remember the doom and gloom that sat around the business community here in South Australia. And everybody had written South Australia off. And under Steven Marshall, he is turning it around, and under our collective leadership here with Rowan we are turning around Whyalla and with Sanjeev coming in with the critical investments to make that happen that's why I think people in Whyalla today have every right to have a smile on their face.
JOURNALIST: After another poor poll result, is MYEFO your last chance to cut through and get your message through to people?
PRIME MINISTER: MYEFO is going to demonstrate our Government are the responsible economic managers. We promised to bring the Budget back into surplus and that's exactly what we're doing. We promised to create a stronger economy and that's exactly what we're doing. We promised to create over a million jobs and that's exactly what we've done and we promised to invest in the essential services Australians rely on whether it's hospitals, or schools or infrastructure and that's exactly what we've done. So it's around five or six months to the next election and Australians will have more than enough time to weigh up these alternatives of the higher tax, weaker economy approach of Bill Shorten, or the lower taxes and the stronger growth that pays for Medicare that is being provided by my government.
JOURNALIST: So it is not going to be the last roll of the dice then?
PRIME MINISTER: I will let commentators make up whatever stories they like. What I know is our vision for Australia is a stronger economy that pays for Medicare, that pays for hospitals, that pays for schools, that pays for the important infrastructure that Australians rely on. That's why I believe in creating a stronger economy. It's not something you put on a trophy on a shelf, it's something that actually delivers the things that Australians desperately rely on. Like affordable medicines. I mean, we saw under the Labor Government when their Budget fell to pieces they couldn't afford to list important affordable medicines on the PBS. That's what's at risk when you play around with a stronger economy which we're creating.
JOURNALIST: Can you still justify replacing Malcolm Turnbull considering you’re doing worse in the polls now than when he was there?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll let commentators go on all about that.
JOURNALIST: It’s a fair question though, isn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: And that's one for commentators to muse on, not Prime Ministers.
JOURNALIST: You keep talking about Whyalla and South Australia being the comeback city. I’m guessing given the polls today you’re hoping for a comeback?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll take Whyalla as my inspiration.
JOURNALIST: So is March now definitely off the table?
PRIME MINISTER: I said the Government will run its full term. I’ve never said anything different to that. I said we're bringing down a surplus Budget on 2nd of April. The first surplus Budget in 12 years. The first in 12 years. That's what a strong economy and strong economic management and strong Budget management delivers. That's why we can fund Medicare. That's why we can fund affordable medicines. That's why we can fund hospitals and schools at record levels. And that's what we'll continue to do by striving to ensure the strongest economy possible. And that stronger economy is a reality here in Whyalla because of the great investments that have been made under our Government and the Government of Steven Marshall. Thanks very much.
