Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Trade and Tourism (Senator Farrell) to a question without notice I asked today relating to Whyalla Steelworks.

Last month, former senator Rex Patrick and I visited the steelworks in Whyalla, a follow-up visit to check on progress. We came away deeply concerned. You see, in 2016 the steelworks in Whyalla went through a crisis when the previous owner, Arrium, went into administration with $4 billion in debt. The British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance came in with plans of new investment in renewable energy projects to reduce operating costs—a 200-megawatt solar farm, pumped hydro and a large-capacity lithium-ion battery. The Whyalla plant would progressively transform into a 10-million-tonne-per-year green-steel megaplant, intoxicating words that offered hope and grand vision for the future.

Then, in 2020, Green Steel Capital, GFG's financier, collapsed, and the steelworks started sliding back into strife. In March this year, a two-day scheduled stoppage resulted in the Whyalla plant's blast furnace cooling down far more than planned, and it's been offline ever since, making the situation even worse. GFG Alliance recently announced that it had secured a $150 million loan, which it will use to pay suppliers and fund efforts to fix the blast furnace. Before GFG's latest financial lifeline, the federal and the South Australian governments were talking about possible financial intervention. Understandably, they were nervous about just handing over money in case it went missing elsewhere in the GFG empire. Commercial businesses may make decisions in their commercial interests, not Australia's strategic or sovereign interests. They aim to make profit, not build a nation.

I want to make Australia make again. If the Prime Minister really wants our future to be made in Australia, he needs to get involved and not be a somewhat interested bystander running around in a cowboy hat. If the Albanese government can gift $10 billion to the US and UK shipyards, he can surely invest a few billion in critical Australian industry. Prime Minister, you need to act now. Help Australian industry and help the community in Whyalla. Do what you promised in the last election and make Australia make again.

Question agreed to.