If the Port Kembla steelworks had to shut the gates well, “so be it”, according to one Liberal MP.
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Peter Phelps spoke in the NSW upper house during debate on the Greens’ steel bill that calls for local steel in government projects.
In his speech, Dr Phelps said BlueScope has no responsibility to the community or the workers.
Instead, he said, its only responsibility is to make money and, if they can’t, the steelworks should close.
He also showed support for steel dumping.
And, almost a week after Dr Phelps’ controversial speech in parliament, neither Premier Mike Baird or parliamentary secretary Gareth Ward have disowned the comments.
Indeed No Liberal MP has publicly distanced themselves from Dr Phelps’ remarks.
In his speech, Dr Phelps criticised the BlueScope leadership, saying the company’s shares have fallen from $50 in 2007 to $5.
He said the board’s only goal was to make money.
“If that means taking a hard line over union wage claims, so be it,” Mr Phelps said.
“If it means calling on the government for reform – not bailouts or protectionism, but for deregulation and reduced taxation – so be it.
“If it means retrenchments, so be it. And, if all that fails, and it means winding up a business that can no longer compete viably in a globalised economy, then so be it.”
Dr Phelps also quoted Crikey journalist Bernard Keane in tacit agreement on the subject of dumping.
Anti-dumping measures are “ so dumb an idea, and so damaging to the economy, that Australia should walk away from it entirely”, Dr Phelps said, quoting from Mr Keane.
“In the end it will be a question of getting it into the heads of politicians that anti-dumping costs Australians far more than dumping does.
“But people say, ‘oh, the foreign steel is inferior, and ours is much better’. Inferior for what? Better for whom? Why not let the market decide?”
Dr Phelps did not see the mandatory use of steel was an appropriate way of spending taxpayers’ funds.
“The taxed public has a right to demand and every right to expect that the money will be used in the most efficient manner possible,” Dr Phelps said.
“That does not mean featherbedding procurement projects for the sake of sectional interests.”