As Opposition Leader Bill Shorten fronted the media at BlueScope’s Port Kembla steelworks on Thursday morning, spruiking his party’s six-point plan for Australian metals manufacturing, Mr Pyne made his thoughts known via Twitter. 

Within minutes of Mr Shorten uttering his opening words, Mr Pyne tweeted: “Labor's steel policy - another board, a new public servant, motherhood statements, the dumping of his mandating policy within a week.” 

“I’m Australia's Steel Advocate - that’s the job of the Industry Minister. Labor wants to downgrade that role to a public servant,” Mr Pyne posted a few minutes later. 

The reaction was swift and met with mixed responses from some of the minister’s 18,000 Twitter followers, particularly the second tweet.

A few questioned Mr Pyne’s advocacy on the steel issue, with one asking if the tweet had been posted by the minister himself or “a more agile office lackey”.

Labor’s plan for the manufacturing industry includes a “Steel Supplier Advocate” who would “work with Australian steel manufacturers to win major contracts”. 

In a statement, issued early afternoon, Mr Pyne reiterated it was his job “to be steel’s strongest champion”. 

“The last thing the workers of Arrium and BlueScope Steel need is yet another public servant in Canberra,” he said. 

The Labor plan stopped short of mandating the use of Australian steel, instead choosing to “maximise” its use in government-funded projects – a point not lost on the industry minister

“Only last week Bill Shorten and Labor were calling for the mandating of Australian steel for all Australian projects. Now he has retreated from these economically reckless comments in his announcement,” he said. 

“Bill Shorten’s steel backflip shows that he simply cannot be trusted with the Australian economy.” 

At a press conference last Thursday in Brisbane, Mr Shorten asked: “What's wrong with requiring Australian content in the steel?”