Federal and state government announce financial support for Whyalla steelworks

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The federal and south Australian governments have announced $2.4 billion dollars to support jobs and encourage investment at the Whyalla steelworks. The facility, which has 11-hundred direct employees, was forced into administration by the state government on Wednesday.

Transcript

00:00$100 million worth of immediate on the ground support, around $50 million of that will be

00:07for credit assistance. So those are people who have not been paid up to date by GFG Alliance

00:14and are still hanging in there. Then there'll be a further $32 million set aside for future

00:20upgrades at this aging plant. It's roughly 60 years old and it's had a lot of struggles

00:25over the last 12 to 18 months. A further $6 million will then be used to help reskill

00:32and job match. So making sure that that employment and that 1000 plus workforce does stay strong.

00:38Following that in the second side of the package to help stabilize the works over the course

00:42of the administration, roughly $384 million has been set aside to assist during that administration

00:48process to make sure that ongoing work here at the steelworks continues to happen and

00:53that those people who are working at the steelworks and who are contractors are getting

00:58paid. Following that there is a $1.9 million that's been set aside by the federal government

01:03and that's a future investment as upgrades and new owners are brought on board through

01:09the administration process. There's also been $50 million set aside from the state government

01:15to also assist during that time and they will be taking on some of the credit from those

01:20creditors. Here in Wyala 75% of Australia's structural steel is made right here and today

01:31we met people including someone who's worked here for 56 years. That says something about

01:38how important this is to the lifeblood. This is the heart of this area in Wyala but the

01:47arteries spread out right around the country. So how's this going to be received by workers

01:54and local people there Haj? There's been a big sigh of relief from people here on the

02:01ground. It was one of the questions that was hanging over people's heads when the state

02:05government announced yesterday when they rushed through that legislation forcing the steelworks

02:09into administration. What does it mean for the future? How are these jobs going to continue

02:15to support them especially for contractors sitting outside of the steelworks when it

02:19comes to their future bills and their ongoing work. So this has been a big sigh of relief

02:24for the people here on the ground. There's been a lot of uncertainty in and amongst the

02:29town both locally and for major suppliers as well.

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