Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cunningham because she certainly has a very keen interest in seeing the steel transformation plan implemented. Of course, it was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday along with the other clean energy bills and it was opposed—astonishingly—by the Liberal and National Parties. As is well known, the steel industry is facing very difficult times in this country. Global markets are struggling. The high value of the dollar has made steel exports less competitive and imports cheaper, and iron ore and coking coal prices are high. The two major companies have been losing money in their steel production and we are already seeing job losses and the closure of a blast furnace in Port Kembla because of these factors.

This government is committed to steel manufacturing in this country. We are committed to the workers that it employs and we are committed to regions like Whyalla and Port Kembla that depend upon the steel industry. That is why the government has worked very closely with the steel industry in developing the $300 million steel transformation plan, which is supported by Bluescope, OneSteel and the unions representing the steel workforce. The plan itself is designed to support the industry and its workforce through these difficult times, to help reduce the emissions intensity of the industry, to support innovation and to support research and development, the application of new technology and investment in the industry. Importantly, the plan and the fact that it will be legislated will provide confidence to the financial institutions that help the industry invest.

For the last six months the Leader of the Opposition has visited Australian steel towns and workplaces to emphasise his alleged commitment to the industry. He told Whyalla that he was so concerned that Whyalla would be wiped off the map, that Whyalla risks becoming a ghost town—an economic wasteland. He told steelworkers in Port Kembla, trying to terrify them, that he was concerned that they would lose their jobs to people in China and Indonesia. He told the Australian Steel Convention:

… steel is critical to our way of life—

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