Topics: Tahmoor coal mine

 

E&OE

 

ROSS GREENWOOD:

 

Thanks for being with us here on Business Now. Well, Sanjeev Gupta was once credited with saving the British and the Australian steel industries, but not now. The collapse of the Whyalla Steelworks, which only survives because of federal and state government taxpayer support, frankly, is a disgrace. Even worse, Gupta's company, GFG Alliance has now stopped paying workers at the Tahmoor coal mine south of Sydney, the local member for whom is the Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor, who joins me now. Angus, you're not happy about this, because these workers have been strung along for months and months now, haven't they?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Yeah, that's right Ross, the mine stopped operating effectively early in the year. To be fair, the workers have been paid up until now, but 250 workers have been put off just in the last few days. There's nothing wrong with the mine. It didn't stop operating because of financial problems with the mine. It was financial problems with the broader group that has driven this outcome. It's a good mine in a good industry, providing met coal – metallurgical coal – to the steel industry, and the miners there want to mine. That's what they do. But they've been sitting around since the beginning of the year. They want to get back to work, and they want work. So, I've said to Sanjeev Gupta, who runs GFG, of course, owns GFG, that he needs to either restart the mine or sell it to someone else who will. And I know that there are other participants in the industry who would like to get hold of it and so let's get on with it. Because right now, enough is enough. Putting my local community and these workers through what they're going through right now is quite wrong.

 

ROSS GREENWOOD:

 

Angus, this is another classic example of Australia having resources and for whatever reason, doesn't matter whether it's government controls or, in this case, somebody going broke, where we’re not using the resources that we've got, which seems nuts.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, exactly right and the result is it hurts our economy. It certainly hurts the local economy in my electorate, Ross, which is why I'm exercised about it. But it hurts the country as well, more broadly, because you know the royalties from a business like this are really important to the New South Wales Government and to New South Wales taxpayers’. And you know, this provides a whole lot of flow on benefits across the community as well. It's a really important business. It's been a very important business in my part of the world, just to the southwest of Sydney, since 1979 when it started and of course, coal mining has a very, very long tradition in this part of New South Wales and the Burragorang Valley, and we want to see it keep going. They're good jobs, and we want them to continue.

 

ROSS GREENWOOD:

 

And as you say, this is not going into power stations, coal fired power stations to be burnt to create electricity. This is going into steel mills to create steel, and Australia needs as much of that is it possibly can have right now, simply because the resources are necessary to try and keep the steel mills, including in Whyalla, and also in Port Kembla alive.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

That's right. I mean, the important point about this mine is high quality coal, metallurgical coal, which sells at a much higher price, by the way, than thermal coal, which is used for electricity generation. It's sitting on about $200 a tonne at the moment, versus thermal coal, which is closer to $100; so it's a very valuable resource, and in great demand. There’s shortage across the world of metallurgical coal. Good metallurgical coal is scarce, so it's a fantastic business. It's good for Australia. It's good for the region. It's good for the workers, and it's been shut down because of the financial failures of the owner. Well, there are other owners out there ready to take it on, so restart it or sell it. It's pretty simple.

 

ROSS GREENWOOD:

 

And what sort of response have you had from Sanjeev Gupta so far?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, I wouldn't say he's picked one of the options to be fair, Ross, he hasn't. He said there's lots of reasons for why he's behind on paying people and there's contractors in the region, businesses in the region, many of whom rely on this mine who are late in receiving payments – look nothing satisfactory so far. So, I'm going to keep putting the pressure on because we need an outcome, and we need it fast.

 

ROSS GREENWOOD:

 

Okay, so the interesting thing about this is when he had the Whyalla Steelworks, it was also grants from the federal government, some $63 million to allow him to try and convert that plant into green steel. It seems crazy for a business, which was at that time pretty much going broke.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Yeah, the good news about this mine is it doesn't need government subsidies. It's actually a good business, so we just need it restarted. The cash has been drained out of it, so there's no cash left to run it. That's the problem, but there's no shortage of people who are looking at it and saying: ‘hey, you can make money out of this, why are the workers being put off?’. It is a ridiculous situation. It's completely unsatisfactory for Australia, for the local community, and we need a resolution quickly.

 

ROSS GREENWOOD:

 

I'll tell you what, Angus Taylor, always good to chat to you, many thanks for your time today. We just hope there's some sort of resolution there for those workers.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, I'll keep pushing for it. Thanks Ross.

 

ENDS.