Governments taxing Australian steelmakers and then buying steel from overseas is “unfair”, according to BlueScope CEO Paul O’Malley.
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The last 12 months have been tumultuous for the steelmaker – this time last year it raised the spectre of closing the Port Kembla steelworks permanently.
On Monday the company showed it had weathered the storm, emerging with more than $350 million in profits – a boost of 160 per cent on the previous year.
Mr O’Malley said part of the turnaround in fortunes came from a focus on domestic sales, which saw a boost on last year.
Continued growth in the domestic market would be helped by governments using Australian steel, which is the focus of a Greens bill which returns to NSW parliament on Thursday.
Mr O’Malley said politicians could move whatever policies they wanted, but BlueScope’s focus was to remain competitive.
“Our issue is when governments tax us and then buy from overseas,” Mr O’Malley said.
“In my view that’s unfair. If they’re going to buy from overseas they should take into account the taxes they put on us in determining whether we’re price competitive. I don’t think that’s done properly at the moment.”
Mr O’Malley said he wasn’t asking governments to waive all taxes for BlueScope, but just to factor them into any price comparison between their product and steel from overseas.
“If a government imports steel from Korea and lets say it’s $20-30 a tonne cheaper than Port Kembla steel but they charge us payroll tax, which is equivalent to $30 a tonne, they should take that into account when assessing whether we’re cost-competitive,” Mr O’Malley said.