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Speaker 1: Let's talk about Whyala.

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Speaker 2: This is another battle front for the state government right

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Speaker 2: at the moment and what might happen there with the

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Speaker 2: steel works. Rex Patrick now a Jackie Lamby Senate candidate

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Speaker 2: Rex Patrick.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning.

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Speaker 2: That here concern that not only are they not paying contractors,

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Speaker 2: they haven't been paying royalties to the state government.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, there's clearly significant problems going on at Whyaler.

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Speaker 3: And look, I know that Peter malanowskis is paying some

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Speaker 3: attention to this, but we're not getting any input from

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Speaker 3: the federal government and that needs to happen. Wyler is

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Speaker 3: a key steel making asset for this country. You cannot

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Speaker 3: be a manufacturing country without being able to manufacture a

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Speaker 3: steel Wiler is the future of our industrial capability here

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Speaker 3: in Australia, and we've got to recognize that. I mean,

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Speaker 3: it might be costly to come in and sort out

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Speaker 3: what's happening in Whiler, but it's even more costly if

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Speaker 3: you lose this capability. It has massive national security and

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Speaker 3: national resilient effects. The federal government needs to step in

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Speaker 3: to help what is going on at While in fact,

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Speaker 3: they need to start making some bold decisions. While has

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Speaker 3: been in this situation since twenty seventeen, there've been on

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Speaker 3: a really rocky road. We need some certainty for a while.

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Speaker 3: We need some certainly for the country.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, and the federal now the state government. The Premier,

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Speaker 2: as you say, he's been talking with the Fed. He

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Speaker 2: says he's raised this with Anthony Albernezi. But we haven't

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Speaker 2: heard what the outcome of that is yet, and perhaps

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Speaker 2: with the time being, there needs to be nothing else

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Speaker 2: said while we wait and see what happens with GfG.

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Speaker 3: Look, I'm not one that is providing the idea of

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Speaker 3: bailing out mister Gorfta, but we need to get a

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Speaker 3: significant change in attitude here. I've just mind all of

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Speaker 3: your listeners. Anthony Albineasi has invested ten billion dollars in

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Speaker 3: US and UK shipyards. We need to be taking an

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Speaker 3: equity stake in the wireless steelworks and driving that forward

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Speaker 3: as a critical national asset. Now, we're happy to spend

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Speaker 3: two point three billion dollars on quantas during during COVID.

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Speaker 3: We're happy to buy in and help other people. Even

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Speaker 3: in the state government. The state government has as spending

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Speaker 3: six hundred million dollars on a hydrogen plant they're investing

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Speaker 3: in the northern water programs and that's really really good.

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Speaker 3: But we need to see some investment by the federal

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Speaker 3: government back in Whiler because we might have a situation

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Speaker 3: that to pull through this, but we end up still

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Speaker 3: being on the rocky road. That can't be allowed to happen.

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Speaker 1: All right, RICKZ.

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Speaker 2: Patrick, appreciate your time, Thank you, thank you as candidate

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Speaker 2: for the Jackie Lambee Party nineteen to ten. On five

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Speaker 2: double A. Let's speak to the mayor of Wuyela, Phil Stone,

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Speaker 2: who is on the line. Mayor, Good morning, Good morning, Matthew.

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Speaker 2: I imagine this is just a terrible time people have

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Speaker 2: gone through this. I was in Wyela at the time

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Speaker 2: of Arium, did a report back to the Breakfast show,

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Speaker 2: spoke to people there going back what five or so

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Speaker 2: years ago. It has that same feeling at the moment,

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Speaker 2: I must say, from where I sit here in Adelaide,

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Speaker 2: how are people in Wyela feeling about it all?

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Speaker 4: Oh, certainly you're right there, Matthew. Obviously a great deal

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Speaker 4: of uncertainty. Yes, when Arion went through, totally different feeling.

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Speaker 4: Back then it was a case of whether the communities

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Speaker 4: had this view. Oh well, it's not going to close down.

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Speaker 4: The government won't let that happen. Somebody will come along

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Speaker 4: and then we know what happened. Then now yes, because

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Speaker 4: there have been issues for some time, the whole range

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Speaker 4: of reasons for this, there has been that degree of

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Speaker 4: uncertainty leading up to it. On this occasion, unlike Arium's situation,

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Speaker 4: there's been more feeling of it in the community through

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Speaker 4: the job losses, I mean the real unfortunate aspect. I mean,

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Speaker 4: none of this is good use. But it's a perfect

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Speaker 4: storman that the mining losses were always part of a

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Speaker 4: plan to change from mining hemotite to magnetite in preparation

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Speaker 4: for green steel. Ultimately that had been programmed or twelve

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Speaker 4: months two years ago. But then at the same time

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Speaker 4: we had the glass furnace go down. And now we're

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Speaker 4: also suffering from a global steel situation where there is

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Speaker 4: an oversupply of steel from some of the other Asian

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Speaker 4: countries what was being offloaded at good prices elsewhere in

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Speaker 4: the world. So there is this global situation which is

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Speaker 4: affecting production and sale. So it is an ongoing tsunami

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Speaker 4: almost of different issues all at the same time. And

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Speaker 4: of course that's the fact that the cash flow, and

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Speaker 4: then you can understand why Liberty Primary Metals which is

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Speaker 4: the or Liberty Primary Metals Australia which is the GFT

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Speaker 4: subsidiary that operates that still works into the iron ore

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Speaker 4: operations are struggling with that financial cash flow to ensure

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Speaker 4: that all their suppliers, their employees do get paid okay.

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Speaker 2: So mayor businesses then would be at the moment just

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Speaker 2: really worried about what the future means. If there are redundancies,

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Speaker 2: and there have been some already, it means obviously a

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Speaker 2: downturn in people being able to buy things, and then

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Speaker 2: the businesses start to suffer and ongoes that cycle.

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Speaker 1: Is that a real concern?

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Speaker 4: Oh, it certainly is, because there is no overnight fix

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Speaker 4: to This is going to take time, and we know

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Speaker 4: that those businesses are suffering. We know the feeling within

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Speaker 4: the community is down to certainly to agree. We know

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Speaker 4: there are certain sectors of the community that quite depending

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Speaker 4: on the business you're in, they're going okay, but other

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Speaker 4: areas are certainly suffering. An example of how it has

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Speaker 4: effected the community our while a show recently, the two

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Speaker 4: day show, we still had a huge crowd out there

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Speaker 4: for the two days, about fifteen thousand people attended our show,

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Speaker 4: but the spending was down, so the people were still

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Speaker 4: going out. They wanted to enjoy themselves, but they had

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Speaker 4: to watch their spending. And that is what's now happening

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Speaker 4: throughout the city, that your discretionary spending is being watched

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Speaker 4: very closely, very aware of cost of living and certainly

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Speaker 4: the things that can't be controlled I guess locally the

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Speaker 4: cost of all your services yet your fuel, your food,

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Speaker 4: your electricity, water, everything like that, that now takes a

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Speaker 4: much heavier toll on people wanting to get through. I

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Speaker 4: still believe in our future, and we're certainly really hanging

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Speaker 4: on the hydrogen plant getting underway next to you, and

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Speaker 4: I know a lot of locals once they see work

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Speaker 4: actually happening on site, that will be a release, because

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Speaker 4: I know that is definitely going forward. And then in

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Speaker 4: tangent with that it still works, I mean the fact

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Speaker 4: that it has been the publicity of later about voluntary administration.

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Speaker 4: There is no I had a briefing yesterday with GfG.

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Speaker 4: There is no talk of them going into any sort

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Speaker 4: of administration at this time. They are working hard to

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Speaker 4: get their cash flow up and to try to ensure

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Speaker 4: that they can keep paying. Particularly, their focus is the

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Speaker 4: locals first, any local employee contractors. But yeah, we can't

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Speaker 4: escape the fact that there are going to be some

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Speaker 4: hard times ahead and that is going to have an

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Speaker 4: impact for some time to come. But we're certainly not

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Speaker 4: oblivious to that. There's a great amount of empathy within

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Speaker 4: the city, people starting to try to work together, but

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Speaker 4: of course that effectual morale as well.

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Speaker 2: Of course, we know the government hasn't been paid royalties.

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Speaker 2: We've heard of contractors who ere rode a lot of

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Speaker 2: money by GfG.

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Speaker 1: Is the council O Denny.

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Speaker 4: Not, to my understanding, we don't really have services with

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Speaker 4: the company's.

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Speaker 1: Rates any rates.

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Speaker 4: Now, well, it's a very unusual setup because the still

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Speaker 4: works and mine well still works technically because of an

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Speaker 4: indenture act that was set up when it was built.

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Speaker 4: It's technically outside wireless boundary. They pay they do, they

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Speaker 4: don't pay rates, but they do pay a fairly significant

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Speaker 4: I guess above, I don't know what to call it.

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Speaker 4: A They do pay a figure and that certainly hasn't

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Speaker 4: come into question at the stage.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so that's that's up to date.

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Speaker 4: Yes, certainly, is my understanding. Certainly, certainly would.

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Speaker 2: But you must be concerned though with the suggestions that

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Speaker 2: contractors haven't been paid, and there's enough examples of that

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Speaker 2: I understand around the town now.

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Speaker 4: Certainly, that definitely is always of concern. I haven't got

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Speaker 4: the latest. I'm not privleged of the actual amount. That's well,

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Speaker 4: I guess that's outstanding, But certainly, in my conversations yesterday

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Speaker 4: with the briefing, it is the end of the month,

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Speaker 4: the company is expecting a good cash flow coming in

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Speaker 4: as part of their normal routine of their invoices being paid,

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Speaker 4: which they will obviously then be ensuring that they can

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Speaker 4: pay out as much as possible. But look, it is

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Speaker 4: a concern. I just hope. Well, I don't hope, but

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Speaker 4: I'm very confident, and I know some people don't like

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Speaker 4: you being confident at the moment, but I'm confident that

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Speaker 4: here in Viola, the company is doing what they can

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Speaker 4: with their cash flow to ensure I'm told they have

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Speaker 4: had many conversations with all the big suppliers that they're

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Speaker 4: still owing money to and coming up with progressive payments

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Speaker 4: to try to gradually get the rear sorted.

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Speaker 2: All right, and the state government, the Premier yesterday telling

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Speaker 2: us here at FIVEAA, telling the Breakfast show that they're

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Speaker 2: planning for all different sort of contingencies. Have government officials,

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Speaker 2: ministers Eddie Hughes even spoken to you as a local

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Speaker 2: MP there, Has he spoken to you or others in

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Speaker 2: the government, officials in the government in departments given the

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Speaker 2: Council a briefing of this as to what would happen.

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Speaker 4: Not in the last week or so, that's for sure,

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Speaker 4: but very aware that the Premier and Minister Christantonus, they're

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Speaker 4: on record as saying that Wyler is critical not just

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Speaker 4: to the state but the whole nation for what we

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Speaker 4: do produce because Wiler is the only producer of construction

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Speaker 4: still what we call the long products in Australia, and

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Speaker 4: COVID did show back then that we can't afford to

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Speaker 4: be reliant totally on imported steel and that I do know.

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Speaker 4: I think the federal government has been taking a great

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Speaker 4: deal of interest to state government, so with their interests

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Speaker 4: and with their belief in the city. Certainly are not

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Speaker 4: privy to what they're discussing day to day, but I

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Speaker 4: do know that while and what is happening at the

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Speaker 4: steel works here is very much forefront of their consideration,

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Speaker 4: and what they're doing now is purely good duty of

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Speaker 4: care to ensure that whatever happens in the future, they've

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Speaker 4: got a way forward.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, no one will disagree with that, and certainly

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Speaker 2: I reckon we were all on the same page in

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Speaker 2: wanting Wyala to succeed, not only what it means for

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Speaker 2: the locals there, what it means for the state and

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Speaker 2: the country ultimately. But when the blast furnace goes out

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Speaker 2: twice in a year, gee, that just points to things

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Speaker 2: being pretty dire, I reckon, like more dire than the

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Speaker 2: rosy picture. I mean, I understand your confidence, I get it,

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Speaker 2: but it just seems things are on the edge. Is

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Speaker 2: just the overwhelming sense when that blast furnace goes out,

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Speaker 2: that is not.

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Speaker 1: A good sign.

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Speaker 4: I agree with that. It is certainly unfortunate that when

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Speaker 4: they were ramping it back up and obviously didn't come

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Speaker 4: back right up to the right temperature, And that's now

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Speaker 4: the issue there. They are confident that well they know

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Speaker 4: how to what that's happened before, they know how to

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Speaker 4: fix it. It is gradually being brought up, but it

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Speaker 4: takes time and they're very cautious at the moment as

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Speaker 4: to try to give it an idea of how long

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Speaker 4: it will take other than it is looking in the

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Speaker 4: words of you, it is looking good, that is coming

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Speaker 4: back up because their aim there is to get it

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Speaker 4: back up to full strength because the iron ore price

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Speaker 4: is very low at the moment, that will actually keep

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Speaker 4: the cost of producing still down. And so I know

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Speaker 4: from mister Gud and the team inwhile their idea is

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Speaker 4: to get that bus furnace back up, really ramp up

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Speaker 4: to maximum production to take advantage of the low iron

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Speaker 4: ore price to compete with the Asian market. Absolutely, but yes,

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Speaker 4: it is going to take time. And I certainly don't

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Speaker 4: have the magic one who say that, yep, everything within

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Speaker 4: a couple of weeks is going to be back to normal.

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Speaker 4: We certainly empathize. I empathize, I'm fortunate I'm not a

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Speaker 4: steel worker. Of course, once you are working there, well,

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Speaker 4: what does the man though he doesn't work there. Yes,

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Speaker 4: it's very very easy for me to say we're thinking

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Speaker 4: of you, but that's about all we can do as

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Speaker 4: a counsel. We are actually looking at and we are

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Speaker 4: only a very small prayer in this respect, but we're

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Speaker 4: looking at what work we may have in our budget

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Speaker 4: that we can bring forward to at least go out

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Speaker 4: of the community and get some improment happening from that

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Speaker 4: point of view.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, indeed, Phil, have you ever met with Sanji at

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Speaker 2: least in recent times last few months?

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Speaker 4: Yes, I met with him Tom Flies last week, oh last.

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Speaker 1: Week, okay, when he was there, so, I mean last week.

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Speaker 2: He wrote a really rosy, upbeat piece for the newspapers

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Speaker 2: and it seemed everything was okay. And then we find

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Speaker 2: out the furnaces out. So what did he tell you?

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Speaker 2: What did he tell you about the few?

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Speaker 4: He's always been very positive about the vision. I believe

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Speaker 4: in their vision. It's just getting to that point. The

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Speaker 4: blast furnace, despite its age, we've always been told it's

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Speaker 4: still in good condition. And I guess you don't replace

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Speaker 4: the glass furnace anymore because that is old technology. And

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Speaker 4: what they're really looking at is maintaining the blast furnace

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Speaker 4: and the works while they gradually transition to green steel

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Speaker 4: and that's going to be very reliant on the hydrogen

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Speaker 4: plant to then provide the power source as to decarbonize.

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Speaker 4: So they still have that vision. It's just that the

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Speaker 4: global markets at the moment have sort of got in

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Speaker 4: that way and put their plans.

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Speaker 2: Back, and that's a few years off anyway, when we

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Speaker 2: get the arc furnace out here to tie in with

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Speaker 2: the green hydrogen. But look, I appreciate your time this morning,

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Speaker 2: and hopefully it all or as well ultimately for Waela.

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Speaker 4: Well, we're certainly positive that way, but we do know

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Speaker 4: that there is a long journey ahead. And as far

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Speaker 4: as the ark furnace is going well. Actually, when I

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Speaker 4: did meet with Sanjiv when he was here, he had

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Speaker 4: a group they were still looking at the early planning

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Speaker 4: for the iron R furniture electric arc furnace, and he

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Speaker 4: had a group there that we're from Danelli who will

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Speaker 4: be the suppliers. So it's certainly not so far on

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Speaker 4: the back burner, that's nothing happening. They're still working on

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Speaker 4: it right now to get ready for the transition. But unfortunately, yes,

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Speaker 4: it is going to take that two or three years

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Speaker 4: by the time the hydrogen plant's operating. They then transferred

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Speaker 4: to green Steel accept their vision. They're still looking at

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Speaker 4: that progress, but he is going to take time, and

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Speaker 4: I know locals their concern about well how long is

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Speaker 4: it going to take? But as I keep saying the

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Speaker 4: fact that this or the hydrogen plant will be up

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Speaker 4: there our construction next year. People are saying, well, when

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Speaker 4: are we going to see work happening, And I say,

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Speaker 4: you cannot go and buy one of these off the shelf.

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Speaker 4: It's going to be one of the first like it

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Speaker 4: in the world. And that has take to design something

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Speaker 4: like that within twelve months to then construct the early

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Speaker 4: new year is an incredible achievement. So once we've got

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Speaker 4: that going, that will certainly relieve the community and iff

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Speaker 4: G Liberty Medals can keep sorting out their issues. The

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Speaker 4: last thing we really want, I've been told is from

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Speaker 4: people in the know, you don't want voluntary administration because

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Speaker 4: once you're going to administration, they can't pay bills and everything.

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Speaker 4: You're held up. So the long it is important that

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Speaker 4: the business can keep going and gradually increase that cash

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Speaker 4: flow so that the blast furnace can last out till

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Speaker 4: the new generation.

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Speaker 1: All right, Phil, appreciate your time.

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Speaker 4: Thank you so much, many thanks. Thanks Matthew the mayor.

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Speaker 2: Of Buyela, Phil Stone on the issues surrounding the still

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Speaker 2: work up there. GfG, the company which runs the mills,

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Speaker 2: and Jifkutpa the White Knight, well hopefully he remains that,

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Speaker 2: but at the moment G you get a real sense

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Speaker 2: that it is on the precipice