If a humble street signpost can cause so much confusion, it seems we’ve got a long way to go when it comes to greater transparency in the Australian steel industry.
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A raft of steel procurement changes, recently announced by the NSW government, will go some way to help.
We’ll see a new standard mandated in government tenders for infrastructure projects come October 1 and the amount of “Australian steel” used in those projects is set to be made public via a dashboard.
However, despite those steps in the right direction, questions remain over what “Australian steel” actually means.
Those in the steel industry also fear high-quality imported steel could still meet government requirements when the new standard is implemented.
Take the street signpost, which was recently discovered in a Warrawong laneway, as an example. Marked as being made in Vietnam, the post angered Wollongong MP Paul Scully.
And rightly so – the pole was just a stone’s throw from BlueScope Steel’s Port Kembla steelworks.
Wollongong lord mayor Gordon Bradbery said the said the galvanised steel pipe required for the sign was “not among the products produced by BlueScope Steel”.
Comments refuting that suggestion have since been aired by the Australian Steel Institute.
However, calls to Orrcon Steel, owned by BlueScope, on Wednesday confirmed that while the company could supply the product, it was in fact imported.
The Orrcon website lists hot-dipped galvanised pipe as being “sourced from pre-qualified suppliers”.
A call to De Neefe signs, the company that supplies signposts to Wollongong council, was met with a no-comment response.
BlueScope can’t make every single piece of steel required for every project – we understand that.
All we ask for is transparency. Someone saw the Warrawong post marked “Vietnam” and wanted to know why.
Was the steel produced in Australia and fabricated overseas? Tell us.
Was the steel produced overseas and then fabricated in Australia? If so, it’s not Australian-made. But, can it be called “Australian steel”?
The issue has similarities to food labelling. Some supermarket items are packaged in Australia using local and important ingredients.
Government changes to laws mean labels, for the most part, tell you at a glance where a product comes from.
Can we do the same with steel?