Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

Labor opposes this motion for the same reason we opposed the previous motion from Senators Lambie, Lazarus, Madigan and Xenophon. We are confident our plan offers a more effective means of lifting the amount of Australian steel in public projects. In addition to what I said in the previous motion, I invite senators to examine the record of the South Australian steel supplier advocate, Mr Ian Nightingale, from the public hearing of the Senate committee in Whyalla on the future of the Australian steel industry. According to Mr Nightingale, the number of local steel companies winning public projects in South Australia has risen from 40 per cent to 91 per cent. This has been achieved through essentially the same measures that Labor has committed to implement at a national level—that is, ensuring that steel used in public projects meets Australian standards and ensuring a rigorous compliance regime with such a scheme.