Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I would like to reiterate something that I have brought to the House's attention on a couple of occasions lately. Particularly difficult economic times are happening in the north of my state of South Australia—in my electorate—surrounding the mining industry, with the planned closure of the Port Augusta power stations and the number of people who will be affected by a number of other ramp-downs. But it is not all bad news. The Commonwealth is spending over $70 million on the Cultana redevelopment, and I want to use this opportunity to once again tell businesses in my electorate that they should go on the Department of Defence's websites and have a look at the opportunities that are there for them to participate in this quite big spend in the local area. There are some concerns, because building is very tight in South Australia and the economy significantly lags behind the rest of Australia—I could go into the reasons but I do not think we have the time or forbearance now—that the major, headline contractors will tend to use their normal contractors, who might come from the city or even interstate. I have spoken to the parliamentary secretary about this on a number of occasions. We will continue to bang the drum to make sure there is as much local involvement as possible in these contracts.

See this speech in context