STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr VENNING (Grey) (16:35): You can't understand what Whyalla is going through from Canberra or New York; you have to show up. As a local member, that's why I demanded shadow minister for energy Dan Tehan and South Australian Liberal leader Ashton Hurn come and hear directly from the people living through the closure of the blast furnace. After 20 months of administration, $1 billion of taxpayer money spent and countless promises broken by Labor, more than 800 jobs have now been lost at the steelworks.

These are people who have developed their skills, raised families and kept Whyalla going. The impact reaches every local business and sporting club. Another 200 jobs have been lost at the Buzzard Mine, which is an iron ore mine near Coober Pedy associated with the steelworks.

Workers and their families need certainty, and in regional South Australia Labor is delivering bugger all. Extending the timeline of the sale up to six months is pushing skilled tradespeople and steelworkers out of Whyalla for good. Once those skills leave, they are hard to bring back.

The community deserves to know when a deal will be done. If we don't get back our sovereign capability in regional South Australia, we will see more of this. To everyone affected, you are not alone.

My office is here to help.