The Greens steel procurement bill was labelled “a bloody stunt” in state parliament on Thursday.
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The bill, which would mandate the use of Australian steel in government infrastructure projects, was due for a vote in the Upper House.
However, amid claims of delaying tactics on the part of the Liberal Party a vote on steel procurement has been put back almost two months.
Present in the gallery were a number of steel industry supporters, including one man with a “Save Our Steel” sticker across his chest.
A stunt … a bloody stunt.
- Shayne Mallard MP
A number of Liberal speakers – including dumped Minister for the Illawarra Greg Pearce – spoke at length to oppose the motion.
Their speeches prompted interjections they were merely filibustering – talking so long to stop the issue coming to a vote.
With parliament now in recess, no vote can occur before the Upper House’s next sitting date of August 9.
Liberal Peter Phelps criticised the bill as “corporate welfare”, called unions “rapacious” and chided BlueScope management for a falling share price.
“Your number one job is to make money,” Mr Phelps said.
He also appeared to support steel dumping – a stance at odds with his federal counterparts.
He said the market should decide whether dumped steel is good enough and “so be it” if the steelworks is not competitive and has to close down.
Liberal Shayne Mallard labelled the bill “a stunt … a bloody stunt” because he said it had no chance of passing through the lower house.
Mr Pearce said the legislation “just doesn't make sense” and he claimed it would boost the cost of steel to the government by 20 per cent.
“We don’t need this piece of legislation to encourage the government to buy local, because that’s what we do all the time," Mr Pearce said.
Labor’s Lynda Voltz said it was in the interests of national security to have a domestic steel industry.
“If you don't have a steel industry, you don’t have a defence industry,” Ms Voltz said.
She added the Liberal government would do anything to stop this bill from passing through the Upper House.