Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just wanted to report to the House of an update on a very critical issue in my electorate and that is the future of the BlueScope factory and the steel-making capacity, not only in our region, but across the country. Last week there was vote of the affected unions on the new EBA. This is the EBA, which I had previously reported to the parliament had been negotiated, that underpinned the announcement by BlueScope that, on the basis of the agreement, they would continue to produce steel at Port Kembla. It was a very critical decision. I have to acknowledge the very, very real leadership provided by all of the affected unions, most specifically the Australian Workers' Union, which has the largest significant number of employees affected, and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

It was a terribly, terribly difficult decision for those workers to have taken. They have made a decision to act as a unified community to protect the best interests of all and to ensure that so many of their colleagues, indeed their family and friends, were not going to loss their job under the potential threat of the shutdown of that steel-making facility. But it was not an easy decision because there was a price to pay, and for some of them it was a significant price. They were facing decreases in their wages and for many of the them that was on the back of previous decisions in 2010, and that is not an easy thing. I just want to pay real respect to those workers who made that decision in the interests of all, not in their own individual interest.

The campaign goes on. The Save Our Steel group, which has been campaigning to get more long-term decisions on ways to ensure stainability of steel making in this country, are in Canberra this week, and is led by Wayne Phillips, who is that local branch secretary of the Australian Workers' Union. Two of his delegates off the shop floor, who come down regularly with him, were there, as well as Arthur Rorris from the South Coast Labor Council. Their point is—and it is absolutely critically important—that the federal government needs to step up and take more action to determine that this important strategic industry has a long-term future. I am very pleased that our shadow minister, Senator Kim Carr, has worked with the crossbenchers in the Senate to put up a proposal for an inquiry that can look in-depth, bring expert advice to the table and take the opinions and views of many of the key stakeholders about ways in which we can take action to ensure a strong future for steel making across the country.