Anthony Albanese dreams green after Peter Malinauskas’s move to wipe out Whyalla steelworks company GREG BROWN and CAMERON ENGLAND
4 hours ago.
Updated 32 minutes ago
Anthony Albanese during a visit to the Whyalla steelworks in 2023. Picture: NewsWire / David Mariuz
Anthony Albanese will offer financial support to help transition Whyalla into a major producer of green steel, after the South Australian government forced the mill into administration because it was on an “irredeemable” path to failure under British magnate Sanjeev Gupta.
The Prime Minister will on Thursday join South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas at the site, about 400km northwest of Adelaide, where they will unveil a “transformation plan” to work with a private buyer to transition the mill into one that produces steel with zero-emission energy sources.
The Australian understands the state and federal governments would consider providing a capital injection or a loan to the next buyer to help refurbish the mill so it produces steel with an electric arc furnace that is powered by renewable sources, including hydrogen.
The government will also encourage the new buyer to source more of its iron ore from the magnetite mine that is part of the Whyalla steelworks site.
Mr Albanese is expected to outline a broader “green steel” strategy after last month committing $2bn into helping the aluminium sector decarbonise.
A spokesman for Industry Minister Ed Husic said the Albanese government had been working closely with South Australia to provide a solution for Whyalla.
“What’s going on in and around Whyalla can’t continue: workers kept in the dark; creditors, including the SA government, unpaid; a proud industrial city left wondering about its future,” a spokesman for Mr Husic said. “We want a strong future for Australian steelmaking and Whyalla has a big part to play.”
As he staged an extraordinary legal intervention to take control of the mill, Mr Malinauskas declared Labor wanted to preserve a “sovereign steelmaking capacity”.
The SA government on Wednesday morning convened an emergency sitting of parliament, where “surgical” amendments to the legislation governing the operations of the steelworks were passed. The amendments have the effect of ensuring the government, which is owed “tens of millions” of dollars in royalties, and about $15m more via state water utility SA Water, would have security over both the steelworks and the land it sits on.
This then enabled the government to place the steelworks in administration.
High-profile insolvency firm KordaMentha, which ran the steelworks under administration after Arrium failed in 2016 and eventually sold it to Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance, will be installed as administrator…..
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Anthony Albanese during a visit to the Whyalla steelworks in 2023. Picture: NewsWire / David Mariuz
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