More than 150 regional jobs are at risk because a multinational has chosen to use cheaper imported steel, likely from China, instead of local product to build a $360 million wind farm in western Victoria.
The only manufacturer of wind turbines in the state, Keppel Prince Engineering in Portland, says it will need to sack workers if the federal government does not step in and force Danish firm Vestas to use local content for its Port Fairy project.
Unions and Keppel Prince are pleading with the Morrison government to order Vestas to use Victorian steel for the 218MW Ryan Corner wind farm, which will provide more than half its power to the federal government’s Snowy Hydro scheme.
The federal government imposed anti-dumping measures on Chinese steel producers in recent years and is in a trade war with the Chinese government.
“We have a jobs armageddon coming in Portland,” Keppel Prince’s executive director, Steve Garner, said of the south-west coastal town, population 10,000.
More than 150 jobs are at risk because a new wind farm project is using imported steel.Credit:AP
“The Prime Minister has been spruiking loudly that we need to get back to manufacturing and we need sovereign capabilities. We have those capabilities and yet he’s endorsing, through the Snowy Hydro, the use of Chinese steel.
“We’ve seen dumped Chinese steel on other Victorian projects and the government would effectively be supporting Chinese firms … even though their government has hit us on lobsters and other exports.”
Federal Trade Minister Dan Tehan, whose Wannon electorate encompasses Portland, said he had expressed disappointment to Vestas about its decision. But he said the federal government did not have any mechanism to force the company to change course because the project was not funded by the Commonwealth.
“I have reminded them how important it is that backing renewables in Australia creates local jobs,” he said.
Vestas believes the Portland-manufactured tower plates cost about 40 per cent more than alternatives, but Keppel Prince believes the difference is half that. The Victorian firm sources its raw material from Australian-owned BlueScope Steel, whose complaint to the federal government prompted the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission to impose tariffs of up to 144 per cent on some Chinese steel.
Chinese bans on Australian lobsters have hurt Portland’s economy.Credit:Fairfax Media
The local state MP who represents Portland, Liberal Roma Britnell, said China’s actions had caused more than $100 million of losses to western Victorian, which relied on its timber and crayfish industries. She said the Andrews government could withhold Vestas’ planning permit if the company did not agree to use local content.
Australian Workers’ Union Victorian secretary Ben Davis said Vestas was “piggybacking” off a federal government project that had provided the company with a guaranteed buyer of power, effectively underwriting the wind farm.
“The federal government is technically the client, so they could mandate local steel … and it’s shameful they would not use local suppliers wherever possible,” he said, adding Vestas operated in Australia with a “social licence” to maximise benefit to the Australian community.
Mr Davis said the Morrison government could make up the difference between the price of the local and imported steel, so long as the difference was not too large.
Federal Labor senator Kim Carr, who has served as an industry and manufacturing minister, said there was a serious risk that dumped Chinese steel would be used on the project.
“The government likes to talk to up local procurement and manufacturing but its actions fall far short of its rhetoric,” he said.
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