POLL: BlueScope chief executive Paul O’Malley emerged from Monday’s federal government-led discussions satisfied the people who need to help the company cut costs were in the room.
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The steel boss stressed cost competitiveness, not government hand-outs, was required to solve the financial woes faced by the company’s Port Kembla steel operations.
Just weeks after BlueScope confirmed it had to find $200 million in annual cost savings and cut jobs or the Port Kembla steelworks could close, Mr O’Malley was upbeat as he fronted the media again.
‘‘Clearly it’s a challenging time for the Illawarra, but what was fantastic was everyone in the room was talking about the future and the solutions,’’ he said.
‘‘From my perspective, those who need to contribute to delivering the $200 million of savings were represented in the room and I believe the conversations are very constructive.
‘‘There is a sense that there’s more optimism today [Monday] than perhaps the fatalism that we saw a couple of weeks ago.’’
On August 24, the company revealed 500 jobs would go as part of the company’s preferred cost-saving plan, Option A - a ‘‘game changing’’ approach to keep the Port Kembla steelworks running. Option B would see the steelworks mothballed and the loss of about 5000 direct and indirect jobs.
Mr O’Malley reiterated the company had a line of sight to achieving the savings but it wasn’t ‘‘all the way there yet’’ and the next four to eight weeks were critical.
‘‘The only way we can be successful is to be cost competitive ... I don’t think government hand-outs is the answer,’’ he said.
‘‘I think the solution is about costs going down and that’s the only way we can basically compete with what is a infinite amount of steel that’s being produced around the world at the moment.’’
Mr O’Malley said there was bipartisan support for anti-dumping regimes and discussions on Monday centred around how they could be optimised.
‘‘The rules we’ve got in place today are very good rules, they perhaps just need a little bit more sting,’’ he said.