Ian Waters, of K&R Fabrications, provided an update on the campaign and ongoing discussions with all levels of government, unions and BlueScope.

Others leading the campaign are Jason Leussink and John Doyle.

“This has been a team effort. BlueScope needs all the support it can get. One factor that surprised a lot of politicians..was the number of suppliers,” Mr Waters said.

Port Kembla Steelworks has 2769. So the impact on the Illawarra if it did ever close would be significant. 

Mr Waters thanked i3net members for their support and said Wollongong City Council and Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery had been fantastic. Particularly the council policy on using Australian steel in council work if available. He admitted he had little experience running campaigns but was encouraged to get 15,300 signatures. Surges occurred when BlueScope management, Australian Steel Institute and unions said it was okay to sign.

Mr Waters described his belief that all politicians would sit up and take notice of such a petition as naive. But the media helped and it was important the campaign remained 100 per cent bipartisan.

“We just want the right result,” he said.

Mr Waters said the campaign would continue and photographic evidence of things such as Chinese steel being used on a road project on the South Coast was important. As was the call for 100 per cent Australian steel being used on major infrastructure projects. Otherwise the method contractors could use to get 50 per cent could mean they would not have to use a single kilogram of Port Kembla steel.

Campaigners can’t understand why all politicians don’t go straight for 100 per cent when their is overwhelming community support. In Victoria both sides of parliament made a commitment to use Australian steel on projects. They think that is because of the competitive political environment.

Mr Waters described BlueScope as an ethical company that wanted to look after the community. And said making and using more Australian steel would help the balance of payments. $800 million of imported steel comes in every month.

There were comments about the use of Boron in imported steel and how it effects welds and safety if it is too highly concentrated. And concern about mentions of Boron being removed from Australian standards in September.

Mr Waters thinks seats could be won and lost over the steel issue.

“You can see the Greens and the Independents are after these three seats here. We regard political competition as a very healthy thing. We still reckon the public doesn’t really understand what is going on. So we are working on a few other strategies to make the politicians listen. Maybe some billboards.”