Premier canvasses creditors as steelworks worries grow
Peter Malinauskas is canvassing business leaders and creditors of the Whyalla steelworks over tens of millions of dollars owed to the government and businesses.
The premier flew to Whyalla to “gather intelligence” from creditors of its steelworks, as he intensified pressure on its owners to pay tens of millions of dollars owed to government and businesses.
State cabinet’s Upper Spencer Gulf subcommittee met in Whyalla on Tuesday and Malinauskas said it was an important opportunity to speak to creditors, the mayor and council team, unions and the chamber of commerce.
“The prevailing sentiment is… people are concerned about what the future of GFG Alliance’s ownership of the steelworks is,” the premier said.
“We’re looking to hear from creditors and understand their position and what their assessment is on GFG’s capacity to be able to pay them into the future… to maximise the degree of intelligence that we can garner about the situation.”
Under questioning in a state parliament committee hearing, SA Treasury chief executive Tammie Pribanic revealed GFG owes SA Water about $15 million in unpaid water bills.
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Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said it was “absolutely outrageous that SA should be paying for $15 million in unpaid water bills of a billionaire” and he called on the premier to guarantee the bill would not be footed by taxpayers.
Malinauskas has been publicly exerting pressure on GFG, revealing that the company owes “tens of millions” of dollars to creditors and in outstanding royalties to the state government.
He said “the time is now” for GFG and its billionaire British chairman Sanjeev Gupta to pay their bills and also demonstrate their capacity to invest in the steelworks.
GFG has not responded to requests for comment on Malinauskas’ demands.
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Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he had spoken to Malinauskas about the “difficult and precarious issue”.
“I said to the premier that the coalition would be keen to work closely with the South Australian government to do whatever we can to make sure we can preserve jobs and industry in South Australia,” Dutton said.
Malinauskas said the state government had “a range of plans for a range of scenarios that may emerge with GFG, I can’t disclose those publicly, because that would compromise the state of the taxpayers’ position”.
“Creditors not being paid escalates a sense of crisis, but sometimes that overshadows the fact that there are still a lot of people making a lot of money out of the steelworks, including workers themselves, getting paid a lot of overtime,” he said.
“The blast furnace is up and running, there is the prospect of steel production escalating from this point onwards, so all is not lost.”
GFG announced in January that the plant had cast its first steel following a four-month shutdown that halted steel production and cost the company millions.
As the nation’s only structural steel manufacturer, the steelworks are crucial to long-term economic sovereignty.
