Port Augusta ready to rise from ashes of demolished power station
It’s a city at “Australia’s crossroad” and while these people think it’s worth betting millions on, there’s a challenge looming in the distance. Watch the national Bush Summit live here.
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“You’ll hear passion from me because I’m born and bred Port Augusta,” Craig Cresp says as he watches a game of netball from the sidelines on sunny Saturday afternoon.
Nestled at the top of Spencer Gulf with a backdrop of the Southern Flinders Ranges, Port Augusta has had – like fellow Iron Triangle industrial towns of Whyalla and Port Pirie – good times and bad times over the years.
But Mr Cresp, general manager of operations (USG) with Hallett Group, says he believes the regional city is on the brink of a major renaissance, and it’s all thanks to something that until recently was seen as a liability rather than an opportunity – millions of tonnes of fly ash left behind by Port Augusta’s now demolished power station.
Hallett’s green cement transformation project is being touted as the most significant carbon reduction innovation project in the history of Australia’s cement industry.
The fly ash, along with other industrial by-products from the region, will be used to create low-carbon green cement in a $125m project Hallett says will create dozens of direct jobs and many more through associated projects.
And for Mr Cresp, this is a major win not least because it means he and his family can stay in the town they love.
“The ability for me to actually be here running an operation like we have is amazing,” he says.
“The primary reason Hallett chose Port Augusta for this project is the ash dam, which is a legacy from the power station. That’s the key piece of the puzzle.
“But then you couple that with the fact that you’re at the crossroads of Australia – both in the road and rail network – then why wouldn’t you link all those advantages together.”
The project, which Mr Cresp says is close to starting construction, would use 20 million tonnes of fly ash as supplementary cementitious material – or SCM – giving the project a lifespan of at least 40 years.
“We’ll peak at 100 jobs here in Port Augusta, but in the interim we’re talking about 30 to 40 jobs,” he says.
“And we can see our project being a catalyst to attract other projects into the region. There’ll be jobs in rail logistics, hydrogen – it’s a good story and people are looking at the upper Spencer Gulf as a good place to get into.”
Mr Cresp says Hallett has had to confront the same issues that any operator looking to carry out a major project in regional South Australia faces - a shortage of housing and skilled labour.
However he maintains that challenges are far from insurmountable.
“We haven’t started the construction phase yet, so the housing shortage isn’t visible to us right now,” Mr Cresp says.
“From previous projects in the region we know that it’s always a constraint.
“The key thing for Hallett is attracting people back from the mines, back from driving trains – they are trades-based people living in the town that have to work outside of it.
“The ability to bring industry back to the town attracts them back to the town by default. That means I don’t have to recruit interstate, they’re already living here.
“There are absolutely opportunities for apprenticeships in the future – we may not have them from day dot, but within a couple of years we’ll have our first apprentice.
“And we’re talking strongly about Aboriginal participation as well – attracting the broader communities, not just people already here.”
Max Services, the crane company that is one of the largest private employers in Port Augusta, is also bullish on the region.
So much so that Max has established its own academy to provide high-level training to staff.
“We train anyone from kids at school right through to people close to retirement,” Max’s head of strategy, business and people Lou Sapio says.
“We don’t care who they are or where they come from, we believe that we can develop them.”
The company is also thinking outside the box when it comes to dealing with SA’s regional housing shortage, purchasing its own properties to accommodate staff.
“Max owns its own houses in Whyalla and Port Augusta to house its own people,” Mr Sapio says.
“This helps us to attract people to the regional areas and allows them some time to settle into the community.”
Mr Sapio says the lack of accommodation had serious potential to stymie growth in the regions and the issue needed to be front of mind for governments.
“Even if you wanted to bring more people in, where do you put them?” he says.
“From our perspective, at the moment, there are way too many steering committees, way too many people talking rather than doing. More active support on both the state and commonwealth levels on housing and skills is needed for regional businesses.”
At the end of the day, though, Mr Sapio says regional Australia offered a lot to any South Australian looking to take their career to a higher level.
“The first step is to make yourself employable,” he says.“Get some skills, and remember that any job of any kind looks good on a resume. And be visible. It really just comes down to the right attitude. If you’re willing to work, and willing to show an employer that you’re willing to work, then you’ll do well.”
REGIONAL JOB VACANCIES
Mid North
Number of job ads: 668
Annual change: Up 15.3 per cent (89 ads)
Biggest shortfalls
Registered nurses: 42
Clerk: 33
Sales assistant: 24
Aged and disabled carer: 18
Motor mechanics: 15
Murray and South East
Number of job ads: 687
Annual change: Down 2 per cent (14 ads)
Biggest shortfalls
Registered nurses: 58
Clerk: 30
Sales assistant: 30
Aged and disabled carer: 24
Motor mechanic: 19
Northwest Country SA
Number of job ads: 375
Annual change: Up 0.6 per cent (2 ads)
Biggest shortfalls
Registered nurses: 21
Clerks: 17
Sales assistant: 16
Metal fitters and machinists: 15
Electricians: 13
Source: Labour Market Data Dashboard, June 2023, Jobs and Skills Australia
Housing holding us back
A lack of housing and a shortage of skilled labour are the two biggest issues holding back regional South Australia, according to Regional Development South Australia chair Rob Kerin.
And the former state premier said one way of tackling the problem might involve rethinking what traditional country town home look like.
“The lack of housing certainly is a big issue, and Covid seems to have made it worse,” Mr Kerin said.
“That’s possibly from more people moving to the country, but whatever the case we are well behind on housing and we really need to accelerate things there. But of course that’s hard due to a lack of skilled labour.”
Mr Kerin said a move away from the traditional three and four-bedroom home that has long dominated in regional South Australia could go some way to alleviating the issue.
“I think we have to look at the mix of housing we build,” he said. “We’re never going to get there just building three bedroom houses. We need to look at what we can build quickly – we might be able to build six town houses in the time you can build three three-bedroom houses.
“A lot of country towns are really dominated by three and four bedroom houses, and a person living on their own who wants to stay in the town often doesn’t have any other options.”
Mr Kerin said recent state government land releases and the establishment of the Office for Regional Housing SA were positive steps towards tackling both the housing and skills shortages, which he said where intrinsically linked.
“One problem is that if city builders can stay busy and sleep in their own beds then they’re not going to be taking many country jobs,” he said.
“So you can have jobs, but if there’s nowhere for people to live then they won’t come. It’s hard to attract people without accommodation.”
Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven said: “The top two issues that are raised when I’m in regional SA are access to housing and workforce capability, which are absolutely interconnected.
“I constantly hear stories of people wish to accept an employment opportunity, but the job cannot be filled because the person is unable to secure housing.
“I’m really pleased that the State Government is focusing closely on areas of housing and skills training, with our regional housing strategies including establishing the Office for Regional Housing – which is currently rolling out its Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme across the state.
“Hundreds of workers employed on major infrastructure projects across regional South Australia will also have improved access to temporary accommodation after the Malinauskas Government fast-tracked changes to development regulations.”
Originally published as Port Augusta ready to rise from ashes of demolished power station
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