A Nation - Lack of foresight?!
“Want of foresight,
unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective,
lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes,
until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong -
these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.”,
Winston Churchill
The following is an extract from the peak steel body group in North America “American Iron and Steel Institutes” in terms of Public Policy Priorities http://www.steel.org/~/media/Files/AISI/Reports/AISI-2017-Public-Policy-Agenda.pdf?la=en
“…The impact public policies have on manufacturers must be carefully considered to ensure both economic growth and our national security.
The United States cannot continue to lose its manufacturing base due to market distorting foreign competition or government policies that discourage domestic investment in productive capacity.
Should this happen, millions of additional jobs would be lost and our economic strength as a nation would be further damaged.
The U.S. military and our civilian national security agencies also would lose their principal source of strategic materials and our nation would become dangerously dependent upon foreign sources of supply…”
We as a nation are lack of foresight!
We did not have a robust roadmap/blueprint for the future of our steel industry. We have not invested sufficiently towards the steelmaking technology in which our overseas competitors have been taking advantages of; often with the support and subsidy by their governments. Our government has been relaying on the market participant (i.e Arrium and its shareholders) to invest in the technology while allowing illegal steel dumping to strangle our ability to invest to the future.
Government cannot simply avoid taking the responsibility in what has happened to Arrium today!
We call for the government to urgently assess the long term consequences of the proposed sale of Arrium Australia to the overseas trade buyer with specific focus on jobs, national interest, economy and our futures.
We believe that the following three steps process can be easily implemented to bring the domestic steel making industry Great Again:
Restructure/refinance the remaining financing debts with the lending syndicate
Elect a new board of directors in particular with candidates with substantial experience and industry knowledge in technology and strategy
Negotiate a funding deal with the government to co-invest in the latest steelmaking technology to replace the existing aging Whyalla Steelworks
We urge the government to take responsible actions without delay!
