Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the people of Whyalla, to assure them that the government is very interested in their plight and that I believe the steel industry has a good future.

The appointment of KordaMentha in the place of Grant Thornton as administrator is a good move from the point of view that they have already expressed confidence in the future—that they will run that plant as normal for the next six months and that the suppliers' bills will be met.

Let me say that the government has been busy in this space. There has been an enormous amount of work done on antidumping and, despite the member for Throsby's comments of a few minutes ago, the Prime Minister has been to Whyalla, and he brought the best thing of all: more work for the Whyalla steelworks. After all, these steelworks have a very high overhead component. It is very much like running a motel at half-throttle—you lose money in that case. If, indeed, the motel is full then the operator is making money, and so it is with the steelworks.

So bring forward that rail contract to Tarcoola and take action, in a measured way, on antidumping. And there is more to come from the minister in the next few weeks. We are making a difference and I have great confidence that this industry will survive long into the future, because it is too important to Whyalla, to South Australia and to the nation to allow us to let it fall over.

See this speech in context