Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra, Gareth Ward, has moved quickly to secure talks with Christopher Pyne about the future of steelmaking at Port Kembla.
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Mr Ward made contact with the new Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science on Sunday night – just hours after the Cabinet reshuffle announcement.
The meeting, set to happen “relatively soon”, will bring Mr Pyne “up to speed” with talks already had between Mr Ward and former Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane.
“I also need to find out from him where former Minister Macfarlane was up to with progressing support from a federal level,” he said.
“I look forward to leveraging everything I can in order to get him to understand the support we need.”
Meanwhile, Mr Ward hit back at flak he copped for not attending Saturday's public rally. The Liberal MP said he was given limited notice, had a previous commitment in his electorate and believed his presence wouldn’t have changed the outcome of BlueScope’s negotiations.
