Owner of Port Pirie and Hobart smelters makes pitch for government intervention

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The operator of smelters in South Australia and Tasmania is urging state and federal governments to provide support, indicating it needs financial support to keep the facilities afloat. Nyrstar Australia’s parent company has described its Port Pirie and Hobart operations as “uncompetitive assets” that “shouldn’t be in fully private hands". Nyrstar Australia has flagged it will cut production at its Hobart smelter and is engaging state and federal governments about "the severity of the challenges it faces".

Transcript

00:00Over 1300 people rely on jobs at Neustar's smelting operations in South Australia and

00:08Tasmania, so comments by global parent company Trafigura about their ongoing viability has

00:14raised deep concerns in both states.

00:17Once the smelter goes it will never come back.

00:21So it's really important that whatever current hardship it's going through that we find a

00:27way to get it through to be a viable operation.

00:31While Trafigura globally made $2.8 billion profit last year, the ageing Australian smelters

00:37have struggled to remain internationally competitive.

00:41Production will be cut at Neustar's Hobart smelting next month by 25% while Port Pirie's

00:47operations remain under pressure.

00:49They're not all out there just chasing grants.

00:52We're out there producing stuff that is critical to the world's needs but also critical to

00:58local communities so we just need to be supportive.

01:02Trafigura is pushing for ongoing government support.

01:05Our Premier has already written to the Prime Minister and is ensuring that it's well and

01:11truly on the Prime Minister's radar.

01:13The call for interventions follows a $2.4 billion federal state funded rescue of steel

01:19making and mining business, One Steel, in Whaler last month.

01:22I strongly feel that there are signals coming from the government that they are quite prepared

01:31to subsidise industries.

01:33A strategic review is currently underway looking at Neustar Australia's operations in South

01:38Australia and Tasmania.

01:41Both futures are seen as economically challenging and their assets have been written down by

01:46a total of $450 million in the past year.

01:50The South Australian government says there needs to be a national strategy to protect

01:55local smelters from global market conditions.

01:58I am not concerned about there being anything imminent about to occur in Port Pirie.

02:04The federal government says while it understands the challenges, commercial decisions are a

02:09matter for the company.

02:16For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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