SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: Well, thank you, Premier, and for that warm welcome to tropical Whyalla this morning.

I really want to make a couple of points today. Firstly, the partnership that Peter talked about between the Albanese Government in Canberra and the Malinauskas Government here in South Australia has been fundamental to the progress that we've made.

It was a real honour to have an opportunity to talk to steel workers and maintenance workers just a few moments ago about the progress that we've made together.

The ingredients are in the progress that we've made; rock-solid partnership between the Albanese Government and the Malinauskas Government in the national interest, and in the interest of the South Australian economy and the future of the steel industry. But also, the hard work and solidarity and commitment of steel workers here in Whyalla, the contractors and apprentices who work with management to get the facility to the point that it's at today.

As Peter outlined, the moment the Commonwealth Government and the State Government intervened, the steelworks was in a perilous position, in safety terms, in engineering terms, in production terms, and the work that's being done by steel workers, by maintenance workers and contractors to bring the facility up to scratch, to make sure that it's operating safely and efficiently and in a modern way means that we can step forward with confidence into this next phase.

And the next phase is the commencement today of official engagement through the data room with potential buyers from Australia and around the globe.

This is a good step forward. But we are not complacent for a second about the future of this steelworks. It will require ongoing investment, ongoing hard work, and the ongoing commitment of the Malinauskas Government, the Albanese Government and steel workers here in the broader Whyalla community, but I'm just absolutely delighted to be here on what's such an important day. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: What sort of further investment have you seen the commonwealth make here in Whyalla [indistinct]?

AYRES: Well, we will make announcements as this proceeds. You would not expect announcements about future investments to be made on the fly. We'll work that through carefully in paper with the South Australian Government, very substantial investments to date, made a lot of progress.

JOURNALIST: Are you able to talk about how [indistinct].

AYRES: We want the sales process to go for as short a time as possible, but for the right amount of time to make sure that we get between the two governments the right buyer, the right owner to invest in the future of the steelworks and future steel working capability.

So, we will hasten carefully through this process to deliver the right outcome for South Australia and for the national steel works.

JOURNALIST: Are you looking at five years, end of the year? Or that would be too soon?

AYRES: If we could get carefully with all of the due diligence processes in the interests of the steelworks and the local economy and the national steel working capability to the right answer by the end of the year, that would be a good outcome, but we are not rushing through. We are determined to – we have gone so far now, we are going to make sure that the work is done carefully and jointly, and that we keep making sure that there's investment.

JOURNALIST: Have you got enough money set aside to give [indistinct] administrators for - I note there's money put away for the next six months, will there be more money coming to continue to process?

AYRES: I think this goes to the question that I was just asked in terms of administration funding. Of course, you would expect this is public money, we're going through a proper due diligence process, working carefully with our partners in the South Australian Government. I would be expecting to make announcements about that shortly.

JOURNALIST: The people of Whyalla understand that you don't want to rush the process, but at the end of the day there's still uncertainties. What do you say to them to those people at this time?

AYRES: We have made incredible progress together. They have stood tough and firm, but in a positive way, engaged with this challenge. Really grateful for the support that the South Australian Government, the Albanese Government, steelworks have got with workers and the community. They know that there's hard yards still ahead, and that it requires everybody putting their shoulder behind the wheel.

Of course, we would all like a world where it wasn't necessary for the two governments to intervene in the steelworks in the dramatic way that we did, but it was the right thing to do, and we're going to follow it through to get the right conclusion.

JOURNALIST: So, to get into this so called data room, there's not any deadline per se, you're just waiting for the right buyer at this point in time?

AYRES: We want to move through as quickly as we can, but we're not going through all of this investment and all of this work to get the wrong outcome; we're going to get the right outcome between the two governments, for the Australian steel industry.

JOURNALIST: How many of the 33 companies are interested are actually bidding [indistinct].

AYRES: As you would expect, there is a high level of commercial in confidence and confidentiality around that process. I don't want to go any further than Peter and I just have in terms of indicating there is strong interest. There is interest from around the world from credible players in the steel industry.

The shape of these things may change over the data room process, so I don't want to say anything that presupposes the outcome. But we're very confident about the level of interest and encourage, you know, other steel makers with real capacity to get engaged in the process as well.

JOURNALIST: Is there much domestic interest, is that something you'd prefer, a domestic buyer?

AYRES: We want to make good judgments here about firms that have got the capacity to invest in future steelmaking capability here, and as Peter has indicated, making sure that we've got a future for the Upper Spencer Gulf in steelmaking that has strong market interest from overseas, and that means investments in low carbon steel making, zero emissions, or close to zero emissions steelmaking, so all of those considerations are going to form part of our approach. There is no pre-determined answer to that question.

JOURNALIST: I was going to ask about that in terms of there's been a lot of talk about sovereign capability. Do you have concerns that you have to write something into a contract if it is an overseas buyer that investments in the steelworks plant?

AYRES: Well, yes, of course, thank you. Thanks. So, the question was about sovereign capability and how the two governments will approach ensuring that investment occurs here.

The purpose of this intervention is to secure the future of the steelworks here in Whyalla and to secure the future of Australian iron and steelmaking. I'm absolutely certain that that will form part of the negotiations with the successful buyer.

JOURNALIST: Can you provide an update on a [indistinct] salvage on a ship decommissioning project, potentially here in Whyalla?

AYRES: I'm broadly aware of it, but I can't provide any update here today. I'm aware that there's a proposal. You know, Whyalla's got extraordinary capability. There's often a sort of deficit story about regional economies like this that are buffeted by economic change, technological change.

Actually, what we've got here is extraordinary capability, extraordinary industrial resilience, and I'm very confident. Whether this contract or future contracts, the region has got a strong future. This will facility will still be at its core, but it's not the only industrial part of the region.

JOURNALIST: Can you confirm though that that contract hasn't been elsewhere at this stage?

AYRES: I'm not aware of those details, and I don't want to lead you astray by [indistinct].