BlueScope has told a Senate inquiry there’s “some way to go” before the Port Kembla steelworks is a viable business and that governments should do more to help the ailing industry.
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The inquiry into the future of Australia’s steel industry held a public hearing in Wollongong on Friday.
The inquiry, led by the Senate Economics References Committee, spanned about four-and-a-half hours and heard from a wide cross-section of Illawarra industry stakeholders.
Senators Jacqui Lambie (Independent, Tasmania), Lee Rhiannon (Greens, NSW), Kim Carr (Labor, Victoria) and Nick Xenophon (Independent, South Australia) were on the committee.
BlueScope Steel’s Australia and New Zealand chief executive Mark Vassella told the hearing the company’s current trading environment had been “the toughest in living memory”, with the steel industry plagued by over capacity worldwide.
Mr Vassella said the company’s most-recent half-yearly results were the best since 2010, a result he put down to “six long years of very hard work by all of the constituents and stakeholders”.
“We’ve got some way to go before the steelworks is a viable business and, as a result, we’ve had to target substantial cost savings to ensure that we are cost competitive,” he said.
Mr Vassella said the company recognised the benefits of free trade agreements but further changes to anti-dumping provisions were needed, including more effective duties and speeding up investigations.
“We believe the federal and state governments should ensure the steel used in government-funded infrastructure projects complies with Australian standards and does not threaten public safety,” he said.
Under questioning by Senator Rhiannon about whether BlueScope supported a mandated percentage of Australian-made steel being used in those projects, Mr Vassella said the use of domestic steel was “vitally important”.
“We have not gone as far as suggesting mandated percentages because of the challenges we think that brings governments,” he said.
Further public hearings will be held in Whyalla and Canberra next week. A report is expected by June.