Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Gilmore for her question. I did see those statements by Jennie George. I believe that they were published yesterday. Of course, Jennie George was a great member of this place and someone who had devoted her life to representing working people, starting her life in the teachers union and then moving to the ACTU. When you look at Jennie George's letter, she was pointing to the circumstances of the steel industry. I certainly understand that the steel industry is under a great deal of pressure. It is under a great deal of pressure because of the transformation that we are seeing in the Australian economy. It is a transformation—with mineral prices and the resources industry where they are now and the growth that that industry is experiencing, the terms of trade that we see now, our dollar at a very high level and that level being sustained—that is putting pressure on industries like the steel industry. The pressure is on their shoulders right now; that pressure was on their shoulders last year. This is pressure on the steel industry as a result of the economic transformation in our economy. Of course we are concerned about these circumstances and have been having discussions and working with the steel industry on its future.

Mr Hartsuyker interjecting—

See this speech in context