Hosgsback has been forced to make this proclamation because there is a sizable part of the population – which includes the Greens party of Australia – that are calling for support of the nation’s steel industry but have not cottoned on that the black stuff is needed in the steel making process.
Every tonne of steel produced requires 800 kilograms of coking coal.
The news that steel mills may face closure in South Australia is a cause of concern for local industry.
Politicians are calling for the Australian government to favour Australian-made steel on infrastructure and large public projects in a bid to keep the industry alive.
There has also been the announcement this week of the winning French tenderer for the $50 billion submarine project, which will be based in Adelaide and will be utililising, as much as possible, Australian made goods using locally produced steel.
Sounds good, especially for the steel workers concentrated around the areas of Whyalla in South Australia and Port Kembla in New South Wales.
Greens MP Adam Bandt said: “The Australian steel industry is under threat and thousands of people across Australia working in the industry lack certainty about the future of their jobs.”
No disagreement there from The Hog . The global steel market is going through an unprecedented upheaval and Australia’s steel workers are not immune from the carnage.
“The Greens would like to see all government infrastructure and construction projects to using at least 90% locally produced steel, including the hundreds of new wind turbines that will be constructed in Australia under the Greens’ Renew Australia energy plan, but successive Labor/Liberal ‘free trade’ deals make it difficult to support local industry,” Brandt went on to say.
But Minerals Council of Australia coal executive director Greg Evans says it is odd for the Greens to claim to support Australian steel for Australian infrastructure projects when they do not support the mining of Australian coal to produce that steel.
The Greens policy platform for Natural Resources: forests, mining and fisheries specifically states: “The prohibition of both new coal mines and the expansion of existing mines”
Their Climate Change and Energy policy platform further states: “No new coal-fired power stations or coal mines, and no expansions to any existing power stations or mines, plus the development of programs to assist coal-dependent communities to make the transition to other more sustainable sources of economic prosperity.”
As Evans states, the consequence of the Greens policy to shut down coal mining is that Australia would end up importing coking coal from overseas to produce Australian steel.
This is another example of inconsistent Green policy that would harm Australia, he said.
Hogsback thinks it would also upset the nation’s balance of payments and require the importation of coal from jurisdictions where standards for treating the environment and the local workforce are not as high as in Australia.
There are many metallurgical coal workers in the Bowen Basin of Queensland and the Illawarra in New South Wales that would be pro-Australian steel. But they would also be pro-coal from the vast reserves in the country without having to import it.
