Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Lambie, for your interest in this company. I know you have taken a great deal of interest in it and I know your colleague in South Australia, Mr Rex Patrick, has also taken an interest in Whyalla. The short answer is that we believe in this industry. This government has shown, by the way in which it has stepped into one of Mr Gupta's other businesses—namely the Whyalla Steelworks—that it is prepared to put its money where its mouth is in terms of supporting jobs and the 261 workers that you have talked about here and, of course, many more workers in Whyalla.

One of the reasons that we had to intervene in the Whyalla operation was that the company was in severe financial trouble. It was close to going into administration. The very fine South Australian government, led by the very fine Premier, Mr Malinauskas, worked very closely with the federal government and, again, the terrific Minister Husic, who I know you have been talking with, to ensure the long-term security and the ability of this country to continue to produce steel, which is absolutely vital to a future made in Australia. We have the same concerns for the workers in Tasmania. It's a little bit unclear to— (Time expired)