The South Australian Political Landscape

[Brodlach]

Surely even the most ardent Libs supporters were shaking their heads.


Kouts would have needed to change his pants, we would have pissed himself

[tigerpie]

Tarzia on radio this morning is an absolute train wreck!

The liberal party surly can find anyone better than this flog or maybe not.

That was hilarious, absolutely a train wreck. Did not answer a direct question, no point having him on as he will be in a retirement home by the time the Libs are in office. Gave nothing to his supporters.

Tarzia- hydrogen plant is no good, labour lied,

Tarzia also - we cannot confirm if we will cancel the hydrogen plant as we don’t know enough about it. We will announce our policy when we have one.

FFS.

"We don't know enough about it".
You would hope being the opposition leader he'd be all over this subject.
Incompetence and ignorance of the highest order.
It's a genuine concern that a highly incompetent leader isn't all over the goings on with gfg
Makes me think the libs plan would be to close the steelworks and hence haven't kept up with the situation as there's no point cause it's going to fold.
Typical liberal attitude.

[Booney]

"Drove myself to Whyalla."

Nigel.

[Brodlach]

"Drove myself to Whyalla."

Nigel.

Why did he keep repeating that?

Good onya mate.

[Booney]

"Drove myself to Whyalla."

Nigel.

Why did he keep repeating that?

Good onya mate.

Because he's a simpleton and thinks we are impressed by it.

[Dutchy]

The way I read it the $50m is available to all creditors that would fit the bill as unsecured creditors, that would include PAFC and if they do get their $'s would they be required to then still display the GFG logo?

Ive had it confirmed from a number of sources that imported steel is as good as local steel, this wasnt always the case.

No one seems to be able to give any assurance that this steelworks has a medium/long term future, i seriously hope it does but to me it seems dead in the water as a private enterprise.

[Brodlach]

Australia as a country has to have a steel industry, what happens if we go to war, countries put tariffs on steel coming into the country.

We have an army in case of wars.

[MW]

Australia as a country has to have a steel industry, what happens if we go to war, countries put tariffs on steel coming into the country.

We have an army in case of wars.

Also do people think 'cheap' steel from overseas will still be cheap when the only place Australia can source steel is from overseas?

[Jim05]

Australia as a country has to have a steel industry, what happens if we go to war, countries put tariffs on steel coming into the country.

We have an army in case of wars.

Bluescope Pt Kembla is supposedly ramping up and will be powered by offshore wind turbines

[Booney]

Australia as a country has to have a steel industry, what happens if we go to war, countries put tariffs on steel coming into the country.

We have an army in case of wars.

Bluescope Pt Kembla is supposedly ramping up and will be powered by offshore wind turbines

Port Kembla (Bluescope) makes coil for sheet, roofing, fencing etc.

[dedja]

Australia as a country has to have a steel industry, what happens if we go to war, countries put tariffs on steel coming into the country.

We have an army in case of wars.

Also do people think 'cheap' steel from overseas will still be cheap when the only place Australia can source steel is from overseas?

Not suggesting that we shouldn’t try to keep the Whyalla Steelworks operational, but there are plenty of goods and products that Australia largely import which would cripple the country if they ceased or were disrupted. For example, we import a majority of our petroleum products from overseas and that supply is probably one of the most volatile of all our imports.

Then you have things like coal and LNG which we export in vast numbers, with LNG exports so high that it has caused a massive lack of domestic supply and therefore significant price hikes.

We might be the lucky country but maybe not so smart.

[MW]

Australia as a country has to have a steel industry, what happens if we go to war, countries put tariffs on steel coming into the country.

We have an army in case of wars.

Also do people think 'cheap' steel from overseas will still be cheap when the only place Australia can source steel is from overseas?

Not suggesting that we shouldn’t try to keep the Whyalla Steelworks operational, but there are plenty of goods and products that Australia largely import which would cripple the country if they ceased or were disrupted. For example, we import a majority of our petroleum products from overseas and that supply is probably one of the most volatile of all our imports.

100% agree and they f..ked up by removing that production in Australia

[Brodlach]

Yep, agree

[Jimmy_041]

This is a good explanation of some of the process

Months in the making Premier Peter Malinauskas took the risk and now claims the reward
The surgical operation to remove GFG as steelworks owner unfolded on Wednesday in carefully co-ordinated lightning strikes and it was months in the making for the premier who took on the risk and now he claims the reward.


Paul Starick
Editor At Large
February 20, 2025 - 5:00AM
SA News

A lawyer was waiting in Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance Sydney office tower lift well, poised to serve a legal notice ousting the firm as Whyalla steelworks operator.

The surgical operation to remove GFG as steelworks owner unfolded on Wednesday in carefully co-ordinated lightning strikes, that had been meticulously planned over months.

The legal blitzkrieg was laden with the drama of a spy thriller, because of the subterfuge required to mount a successful ambush.

Lawyers were stationed at GFG offices across the nation. Laws were rammed through parliament in an extraordinary morning session. Even Governor Frances Adamson was on standby to greet the Premier and provide all-important assent to the freshly passed laws.

This legal assent was the trigger for the phalanx of lawyers representing the state government to strike and deliver the notices of legal execution for GFG’s Whyalla steelworks ownership.

Effectively, the state government called in SA Water and mining royalty debts to plunge GFG subsidiary OneSteel Manufacturing into administration.

It might sound simple but there were numerous potential fatal hurdles as the events rapidly unfolded.

Not least was Mr Gupta, who has remained a step ahead of critics and creditors for some years, would react rapidly to extinguish his debts to the government.

This would have spiked the administration move before the legal notices were served.

But the lawyers had been crawling all over Mr Malinauskas’s Victoria Square office for weeks for a reason.

They were advising on the multistage plan in a bid to make it legally watertight. The Premier spearheaded the political calculations, thus assuming the risk and any reward.

This revealed the Premier’s steely, ruthless and calculating side – rarely displayed publicly – but clinically deployed as a young union boss in 2011 when he helped knife the-then premier Mike Rann.

The first catalyst for the legal strike was Mr Gupta’s move last May to delay getting the steelworks’ new electric arc furnace online until at least 2027 – two years later than forecast.

It is understood Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis found out only when he travelled that May to Buttrio, in Italy’s northeast, that May to eyeball Danelli, the firm developing the $500m furnace.

The state government had earmarked $50m to help fund the furnace, contingent on the plant being commissioned.

Following the electric arc furnace delay, Mr Malinauskas started to move. There were some public signs of the marathon planning operation being waged out of his office.

Late last September, Mr Malinauskas listed five steel firms he had personally held talks with as he declares Whyalla steelworks’ ownership “second” to his long-term green iron plan.

He named BlueScope, Nippon Steel Corporation, POSCO, Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel.

As late as last Friday, Mr Malinauskas maintained the subterfuge by continuing to insist publicly that he wanted Mr Gupta to succeed, even while pointedly refusing to express trust in his firm’s ongoing ownership of the crucial national asset.

On Sunday at LIV Golf, Mr Malinauskas courted BlueScope Steel chief executive Mark Vassella, hours after meeting Mr Gupta, who had jetted in to Adelaide.

It was the most public sign of the next step in the plan – recruiting a new owner to take over the steelworks.

[Brodlach]

David Speirs, the gift that keeps on giving

[Brodlach]

Mali vs Tarzia is a debate today, oh boy.

Tarzia will be so far out of his depth he’ll need to watch out for sharks.


If an election was held today, who in their right mind would actually vote for Tarzia? I understand that rusted on Libs would but really you’d think not one swinging voter would.

[Booney]

Mali vs Tarzia is a debate today, oh boy.

Tarzia will be so far out of his depth he’ll need to watch out for sharks.


If an election was held today, who in their right mind would actually vote for Tarzia? I understand that rusted on Libs would but really you’d think not one swinging voter would.

I'm not sure they would. Will be blood in the water there today though, wish I was going to witness it.

Edit - Will be live on 5AA

[mighty_tiger_79]

Tarzia to have any remote hope of getting the message across needs to be a whole lot more articulate than he has thus far.

[Jim05]

Tarzia to have any remote hope of getting the message across needs to be a whole lot more articulate than he has thus far.

They are zero chance of winning no matter who they put forward. Best off just saying to Mali “Here are the keys for the next two terms, see you in 2034”

[mighty_tiger_79]

Tarzia to have any remote hope of getting the message across needs to be a whole lot more articulate than he has thus far.

They are zero chance of winning no matter who they put forward. Best off just saying to Mali “Here are the keys for the next two terms, see you in 2034”

By 2034 there actually might be no opposition