Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a very important manufacturing opportunity that we cannot—I repeat, we cannot—let slip by. ElectroNet and TransGrid are in the process of seeking approvals to build a 900-kilometre interconnector between Robertstown in South Australia and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. It's a 330-kilovault above-ground transmission line with a transfer capacity of about 800 megawatts. It will help stabilise power and reduce electricity prices in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. It will also provide connection points along the way to tap into renewable projects which will be given the opportunity to connect to the grid through the interconnector.

If we do nothing, the steel for that 900-kilometre interconnector will come from overseas despite having ample ability in this country to build raw steel. Last year Centre Alliance lobbied the government, and the government—and I'm very appreciative of their support—provided Whyalla company Ferretti a $600,000 grant to look at the feasibility of actually building transmission towers here in Australia in Whyalla using steel from the Whyalla Steelworks. The feasibility study has been completed, and, basically, it stacks up: it is feasible for us to build transmission towers here in Australia at a competitive price. Not only that but it will create about 150 jobs in Whyalla. It will create $500 million in economic stimulus over eight years. It will also place greater demand on the Whyalla Steelworks to help the steelworks in their expansion efforts, making sure that we retain a steel capability here in this country. If you can't produce steel, you pretty much have to give up. It's necessary for manufacturing right across Australia. It's necessary for construction. It's necessary for the defence of this country in times of conflict. It's a strategic capability. So we need to support it.

If we were to have the plant in Whyalla that Ferretti is hoping to build, we would build a capability that value-adds, and that's exactly the sort of thing we need to be doing here in Australia post-COVID-19. There are huge opportunities. There's a 60-kilometre transmission line in the Pilbara that needs to be built. There's a Cultana to Port Lincoln powerline on the Eyre Peninsula to be built. There's Snowy 2.0, which will require transmission lines. And that's just to name a few. We want to have a situation where transmission lines across Australia are built from quality Australian steel.

The government needs to help make this happen. The government needs to impress upon the companies intending to build this interconnector that it must be Australian steel. You know what: we've got to stop just exporting rocks. We have to stop just exporting rocks. We need to be value-adding. Of course, when we build steel, we are value-adding. But we need to go up the value chain, and we need to be looking at building, in this instance, transmission towers. We need to get a commitment or have the government apply pressure through whatever means—and I will be writing to Minister Taylor about this next week—to make sure that this work goes to Ferretti in South Australia. That will make Whyalla a winner. That will make South Australia a winner. But it will also make Australia a winner, and that's what we must do.