A steel procurement bill will be voted on in parliament on Thursday and no one could more surprised that Ian Waters.
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Last year Mr Waters was part of a group that launched a petition calling on governments to use 100 per cent Australian steel in publicly-funded infrastructure.
It was a petition that effectively got the steel campaign rolling and it was picked up by the Greens, who are behind the bill entering the Upper House on Thursday.
“We’ve never thought we’d get this far with the petition,” Mr Waters admitted.
Up until recently we had nothing. It was a bleak future.
- Wayne Phillips
“It was a group of businesses, including Leussink Engineering and K&R Fabrications and others. We didn’t think it would get this level of interest and we’re very pleased to see that people are coming on board with it.”
Mr Waters admitted it was “surprising" that it was the Greens who had come to the aid of the steel industry but said politicians simply could not stand back and do nothing.
“The industry is under severe threat,” he said.
“There’s steel being dumped around the world and the extra tonnes being manufactured in some countries is a massive threat to the whole world steel industry.’
“There’s an intent there to wipe out the world’s steel industry and we need to be working together to retain at least our section here in Australia.”
Australian Workers Union Port Kembla branch secretary Wayne Phillips said, without political support, things weren’t looking good for the steel industry in the region.
“Up until recently we had nothing,” Mr Phillips said.
“It was a bleak future. We had made our sacrifices in the past. Our members on the shop floor can’t do any more, so it’s an excellent result from a party that is very progressive and thinking about workers and the economy first.”
Mr Phillips said he was confident that the Greens bill will make a real difference to the steel industry in the Illawarra.
“I think the bill that’s introduced by the Greens with the support of Labor and the other parties should secure our industry for a long, long time,” he said.
“I’m hoping that my grandkids and great-grandkids will have a job here thanks to this bill being put in by the Greens.”