Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hope I am standing in the right place! In one sense, I welcome the member for Grey's motion. This is a delicate time, obviously, in Arrium's history. We are coming out of a long period of receivership—nearly a year—and the people of Whyalla have been particularly stoic, particularly hard working and particularly decent in the challenges that this town has had for a year now. That uncertainty is a terrible thing to live with, and we are now coming close to light being at the end of the tunnel. We have a preferred bidder; the administrator is working through the process of the sale. We broadly have bipartisan support in this place and between federal and state governments. We have a lack of contentiousness, I think, in this area, where people have been particularly constructive and particularly careful about what they say. I think that is an important thing. I think it is important that the state Treasurer of South Australia has made a contribution—outlined; it is public. He has worked hard with the federal minister, Mr Sinodinos. There is an attempt to take some of the politics out of it and to work in the national interest.

In one sense, it is good that we are here talking about this today—and it is important that the member for Grey represent his constituents, particularly those in the iron triangle and the town of Whyalla. In another sense, what we see here are some pretty silly politics. I am all for robust debate; people who have listened to my contributions in this place would know that. I am not above having a go at the other side, or indeed the crossbenchers or anyone else where I think it is due or appropriate. But linking, in this case, the politics of Adani and North Queensland—whatever you think about that mine, I think it has to stack up under its own weight. I do find it interesting that we have the member for Barker's and the member for Grey's new-found commitment to industry policy, and the member for Barker talks about underwriting jobs, yet they sat idly while Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey completely gutted South Australia's industrial base by turning their backs on the car industry. What a difference a few years makes, I guess you could say. Cold comfort for car industry workers in my seat and my state.

I would rather that this motion's words were expressed in a different way. By all means mention this contract—it is no bad thing if Adani goes ahead that they might buy steel off of Arrium; it is a good thing—but I think it would be tremendously positive if the member for Grey might talk about the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project. I read this document on that project with some interest. The Turnbull-Joyce commitment to this project is very positive, but there is not one word in this document about Australian steel. It is a huge purchase and it is a huge bit of procurement. We could have all been in here talking about this project, in a positive and bipartisan way, giving some commitment and some future hope for the workers at Whyalla, the unions and the future buyer of the Arrium steelworks. It would have been a good thing to talk about the procurement of that project and many others. We know that we have a job to do. Procurement is not just about having a policy; it is about talking to the procurement officers about having the structures in place to make sure that the government does procure Australian steel. I think the member for Shortland might have something to say about those structures and processes.

This is an important issue. It is an important time for us to make bipartisan commitments. It is an important time for us to use bipartisan language. The people of Whyalla need that. For us to have a positive outcome, I think that is what is required. We should eschew the silly politics of trying to link this to one particular project and one particular time, and focus on the long-term future of what is a very important national asset, the Arrium steelworks at Whyalla. To that extent, I look forward to the member for Grey introducing more motions so that we can discuss this further. (Time expired)

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