VANGUARD - Expressing the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
For National Independence and Socialism • www.cpaml.org
(Above: Whyalla Steelworks. Picture supplied)
On Monday 14 September SA Premier Peter Malinauskas went to Whyalla to announce the final shutdown of the blast furnace at the Whyalla Steel Works in South Australia. 600 workers, including about 100 contractors, will lose jobs. The Premier blamed the failure of previous owners of the steelworks over several decades for the demise of the blast furnace.
These previous owners - Gupta's GFG Alliance, Arrium and One Steel and before that BHP - all had one thing in common. They manufactured high grade steel from locally mined high grade iron ore for profit. Thousands of workers lived at Whyalla and worked at the steel works and up until the 1970s at the Whyalla shipyards as well.
Many of these workers were new migrants to Australia. Over the decades they produced the wealth appropriated by large corporations from BHP through to Gupta's GFG Alliance.
In February 2025, the SA and federal ALP governments announced a $2.4billion "rescue package", ousted the heavily in debt GFG Alliance from control of the Steelworks and placed the Steel Works into the hands of administrator Korda Mentha.
Korda Mentha was the corporate shark that recommended Gupta's GFG Alliance purchase of the Steel Works in the first place!
The "rescue package" by the SA and federal governments was a case of governments acting in the interests of capitalism as a whole as so many different sectors of the economy relied on the high-grade steel produced at Whyalla.
During the period of GFG Alliance ownership and the period of Korda Mentha administration, the resilient backbone of the Steel Works, the steel workers themselves and the working people of Whyalla generally, kept the steel production going and with limited resources tried to keep the blast furnace operating.
Workers were told that "help is on its way" in the form of a new Steel Works owner who would not only purchase the Steel Works, but instal a new electric arc furnace replacing the old blast furnace.
The SA Government told workers and the Whyalla community a decision on the new owner would be made by September 2026. As the old blast furnace shutdown announcement was made on 14 September 2026, the Government said it was hopeful of announcing a new owner by the end of 2026.
Workers Win All Entitlements
The strength of Whyalla since the first blast furnace operated in 1941 has been the workers of Whyalla, across not only the steel works, iron ore mines and the port but throughout the community.
The steelworkers and earlier shipbuilding workers have been not only unionised but highly organised with strong delegate structures, good communication networks among themselves, strong community leisure and sports clubs and strong support for workers in the many services sectors without which the steelworks and shipbuilding works would not have functioned.
This is the main reason why on 14 September 2026, the SA Premier had no real choice but to guarantee all workers made redundant would receive all monetary entitlements owing plus support services to find workers other jobs.
Reading between the lines, the Government may know that whoever the new owner selected (M Resources from Qld or Jindal Steel from India), there may be no new electric arc furnace. If this is the case, none of the 600 jobs will return. The Steel Works will do what it does at the moment. Import steel billets which will be rolled and refined at Whyalla to customers’ requirements but no longer manufactured at Whyalla.
Workers Need a Real "Rescue Package"
Both SA and federal ALP governments are parties of capitalism. Their "rescue package" of putting the Steelworks into administration has only had partial short-term success. The next phase of their "rescue package" is to once again hand the Steel Works to yet another large corporation whose prime reason for bidding for the Steel Works is to maximise profit.
Whyalla workers know this and sense that the only real short to medium term secure "rescue package" is for the steel industry in Australia to be nationalised as a step towards national independence and socialism with an economy based on people's needs rather than being based on profits for big capitalist corporations.