Local steel not used in grandstand

A new western grandstand was opened amid much fanfare at Wollongong’s WIN Stadium just a couple of months ago.It was the final piece in the jigsaw that has provided Wollongong and the St George Illawarra Dragons with one of the most impressive regional sporting arenas in the country.The magnificent stadium and the nearby entertainment centre are the result of years of lobbying and backbreaking work, plenty of it gratis from benefactors such as the late John Cleary and our local steelworks.The new stand, with its solid steel structure, is a few minutes’ drive from BlueScope Steel, which announced this week it was axing 800 steelworkers and 330 contractors because of a downturn in business.Amazingly, not one scrap of local steel was used on the western grandstand.If WIN Stadium and the Government had heeded the pleas of former Member for Throsby Jennie George for steel industry assistance, and a change to the procurement system that favours places such as China, then BlueScope might be in much better shape today.If BlueScope, and our steel industry, is to survive, which it can as a domestic and boutique producer, then the existing procurement system must change.