Federal Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey said it was a bonus to have SA Premier Steven Marshall in Whyalla today to launch an $8 million upgrade to engineering and construction company Ferretti International, a steel processing centre in Whyalla.
“This joint investment from Ferretti, State and Federal Governments is a strong expression of our collective confidence in the steel industry and Whyalla’s place in it,” he said.
“The COVID virus has demonstrated Australia’s vulnerability to supply chain disruption and re-focussed our attention on the industries, essential to our security and in which we must retain a strong local production capacity”, “Steel is one of those industries, both production and fabrication. Consequently we are backing Australian manufacturing and we are backing Whyalla.”
Mr Ramsey said the State and Federal Government’s were investing record amounts in infrastructure and it is essential wherever possible, that Australian steel was used on those projects.
“However, it is also essential that the Australian steel be cost competitive and having a new, first class facility, as we will soon have in Whyalla, will enable Ferratti to have that edge”, he said.
“Ferretti may seek to participate in the tender process to supply the transmission towers to the NSW-SA Interconnector, which would be a real boon to the Australian steel industry,” he said.
“The Federal Government has committed $750,000 through the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund which supports manufacturers by co-funding capital investments and associated reskilling and creating jobs.”
Media Contact: Leonie Lloyd-Smith 08 8633 1744
