SA Economy

[Waewick]

Steven Marshall is a joke of a leader.
He has no vision. He has no plans.
The only time you ever hear a peep out of him, is when he stands up to criticize the government.
The people who call up 5AA do a better job of criticizing the government then he does.

If that's the best he can do with what he's got, then no wonder Labor keeps winning in this state. No wonder they win while under performing every time.

The Liberals will oppose whatever the Labor government does or proposes. It is all they've got to work with. Because there is nobody within that party, or nobody in a position to, come up with a solid vision and plan for the state.

It shouldn't even be about getting elected as government. If these pigs(on both sides) truly cared about this state and the people of this state, they would come up with the best, boldest vision and plan for the state, and move heaven and earth and a few mountains to see it through.
For key projects like light rail and electrification of heavy rail, road infrastructure, there would be support from both parties, and even if we had a change in government, such projects would continue. Because it's in the benefit of the state and people for them to continue.

You would think there'd be enough support from supporters of both parties for something like that to happen.

I really do wonder what the hell is wrong with people sometimes and whether it's worth even caring about anymore.

he just did a whole document on visions and plans which was widely panned for being visions and plans.

We get it, you're a labor voter. No need to pretend your impartial.

It was widely planned because it didn't actually have any plans or visions in it

It was as crap as any non federally funded State Labor document.

And it was crap no doubt.

[Vee]

Good news for SA, northern suburbs and regions.

Ingham expands SA operations, additional 850 jobs to be created

Chicken producer Ingham will spend $275 million doubling the size of its South Australian operations, creating an additional 850 jobs in the process.

The money will be spent throughout Ingham's production chain, including breeding, hatching, processing, feed production and product distribution at 15 sites.

Sites included in the expansion are Bolivar, Edinburgh Parks and Dry Creek as well as Monarto, Yumali, Murray Bridge and other sites in the Murraylands.
The company expects to directly employ an additional 385 employees, and support 465 new positions with contractor firms.

State taxpayers will help pay for the expansion with a $3.7 million investment — $2.8 million from the Regional Development Fund and $900,000 from Investment Attraction South Australia.

Premier Jay Weatherill said the expansion positioned South Australia as a "strategic national centre" for Ingham.
"Food production is a growing sector of our state's economy and we are supplying the business conditions that make investing here a wise choice," he said.

"This expansion will create hundreds of new direct and indirect jobs for South Australians with a focus on two key areas — northern Adelaide and the Murraylands."

Ingham executive chairman Mick McMahon said the company would look to target workers set to lose their jobs in car manufacturing.
"We have started discussions on how we can tap into the skilled workforce in northern Adelaide and provide new opportunities to those displaced by the closure of car manufacturing," he said.

"We have already employed some people from this industry in leading positions."

ABCNews:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-16/c ... ns/7417716

[jk1237]

We get it, you're a labor voter. No need to pretend your impartial.

have you heard of the pot calling the kettle black because you are clearly a Liberal voter so accusing someone else of not being impartial is hilarious

[Spurdo]

he just did a whole document on visions and plans which was widely panned for being visions and plans.

We get it, you're a labor voter. No need to pretend your impartial.

Hello Rupert, how's NewsCorp going

[Waewick]

We get it, you're a labor voter. No need to pretend your impartial.

have you heard of the pot calling the kettle black because you are clearly a Liberal voter so accusing someone else of not being impartial is hilarious

I can call someone not impartial regardless if I am also not impartial.

But given I've called the document crap it hardly makes me some fanboi or a Liberal voter.

[Waewick]

he just did a whole document on visions and plans which was widely panned for being visions and plans.

We get it, you're a labor voter. No need to pretend your impartial.

Hello Rupert, how's NewsCorp going

Don't read that rubbish

[Vee]

Grim forecast. "Too vital ... to be allowed to fail".

Economic modelling finds grim SA impact if Whyalla steelworks closes

Any closure of Arrium's Whyalla steelworks would lead to more than 5,000 job losses across South Australia and cost the state's economy as much as $770 million, a study has found.
Arrium went into voluntary administration recently with debts of about $4 billion.

An analysis by the Industrial Transformation Institute at Flinders University found the Whyalla workforce would decline by about 40 per cent if the steelmaker closed, with up to 3,940 full-time jobs lost while overall SA job losses could reach 5,360.

Economic modelling calculated Whyalla's regional economy could suffer a $530 million impact and South Australia an adverse impact of up to $770 million — a much bigger economic effect on SA than from the shutdown next year of car production by Holden at Elizabeth in northern Adelaide.

Professor John Spoehr said his study confirmed Arrium was too vital to the state's future to be allowed to fail and government assistance clearly was essential to support continuing steel production.

"The consequences of closure of Arrium would just be devastating for Whyalla, so every effort has to be made to try and secure the operation," he said.

"That on its own won't be enough — it will be important to look at a diversification plan for Whyalla."
The Arrium administrator is hoping for a taxpayer investment to make the steelworks more attractive to potential buyers.

ABCNews:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-23/a ... ds/7436388

[Waewick]

Could SA just buy it outright?

[Goodsy]

Could SA just buy it outright?

States broke

[bits]

Im sure we could borrow the money, but that might cost more than the investment is likely to return.

[Goodsy]

Im sure we could borrow the money, but that might cost more than the investment is likely to return.

Oh yes, more debt... That's going to sit well with the adelaidenow crowd

[monotonehell]

Im sure we could borrow the money, but that might cost more than the investment is likely to return.

Oh yes, more debt... That's going to sit well with the adelaidenow crowd

Not just "debt" but "nationalisation of industry." That's communism! *sounds of calamity and screaming*

While the various state and federal governments are busy selling off all public assets, that is.

[phenom]

Sure anything like this will send AdelaideNow into the usual hysterics but they play every side of every argument relentlessly (one day it will be "thousands of hard working aussies dumped", State Govt intervenes, next day "jay blows out debt"). So over it.

This is the kind of calculation the Federal Govt should have exercised with the auto industry - oh no, $500m a year in support to keep 50,000 to 200,000 people employed. Let's cut that amount (when they can then give away $50bn to foreign multinationals without blinking) and then we can all pay the dole for the next 20 years for all the long-term unemployed.

Despite the anti-union rhetoric, our manufacturing is being destroyed by a high dollar induced by commodity exports (now receding but leaving us denuded of much of our industry) and of course massive dumping of products from heavily subsidised producers overseas - China in particular but not just them.

We've happily given away most of our critical industries and capabilities - if we are to preserve anything of substance it's going to have to come at a cost and largely be done by government. There's good reason to believe the SA operations of Arrium *can* be made profitable and it would be an opportunity to save jobs, save capabilities and maybe even get our money back at some future point.

If the ESL goes up another $4 per year (OMG shock horror, end of the world according to AdelaideNow and Indaily) to pay for it then so be it.

[mshagg]

Could SA just buy it outright?

It's really not worth anything given the liabilities exceed the assets, so the purchase price is likely to be low, but why would we do that? Whilst not ideologically opposed to the idea, im not sure what the end game is in such a scenario.

They lost $236mil in a 6 month period, so it's a likely an ongoing loss position that the government would be buying into. The economic modeling suggests an $800mil impact, I presume on GSP, although over what period I am unsure. It's obvious that it wouldn't take long for a nationalised version of arrium to rack up comparable losses, all of which represent an opportunity cost. How long do we kick that can down the road? Into eternity? It starts to look like circa 1980s british coal mining. The state bank lost a billion dollars and look at the economic cost that had on the state. If the industry - or that particular operation - is stuffed, then I cant help but feel the money would be better spent on a more forward looking solution.

I see they're already introducing protectionist measures under the guise of anti-dumping, with tariffs up to 53%.

[Goodsy]

IIRC the steelworks itself it profitable, it's the mine that's losing the money but they're not willing to split them up and sell them off individually