The Australian Workers' Union is calling on the NSW Government to finalise its contribution to saving the Tomago aluminium smelter without further delay.
AWU national secretary Paul Farrow said the equation for the NSW Government could not be simpler.
"If you give up on Tomago you give up on the Hunter," Mr Farrow said.
"This is the largest single employer in the Hunter Valley energy precinct. The businesses, the supply chains, the communities that depend on this smelter need certainty.
“Right now the NSW Government should focus on saving a vital industry, not about getting square on GST or any other distraction.
"Queensland got to a landing with Boyne Island. We're calling on the NSW Government to match that urgency and confirm its financial contribution to the Tomago deal before the end of the current negotiating window with Rio Tinto.
"The federal government has done its bit. The ball is in NSW's court."
Mr Farrow said the debate around Tomago had been badly distorted by outdated economists who reduced the question to a simplistic cost-per-job calculation.
“As a union leader, my number one interest personally is always jobs. But anyone who thinks government support is primarily about supporting jobs needs their head examined," Mr Farrow said.
“Economists who divide industry support by the number of jobs to come up with wild figures are being childish and dopey.
“Industry support is about whether Australia retains the sovereign capability to turn its own natural resources into finished products. We are one of the world's largest bauxite producers. The idea that we should just dig it up, ship it to China, and then buy back the finished aluminium is economic lunacy.
"We should have learned this lesson during COVID and we certainly should be learning it now with the Middle East crisis. Fragile supply chains and dependence on foreign production can bring this country to its knees.
Mr Farrow noted every other major economy treated their aluminium industries as vital.
"The United States treats aluminium as a matter of national security. The European Union has aluminium covered under its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. India is actively building its smelting capacity because it understands the same thing,” Mr Farrow said.
"Yet here in Australia we have blowhard economists telling us we should just call the companies' bluff and let it all go. Are Australians happy for us to become a supplicant state that depends on China's benevolence to keep surviving? Because that's where they want to take us.”
Mr Farrow said walking away from Tomago would not only destroy existing capacity but kill Australia's opportunity to become a world leader in green aluminium.
"Global demand for verified low-carbon aluminium is growing rapidly, led by the EU. Major manufacturers from automotive to construction to technology, including data centre operators, are actively seeking green aluminium for their supply chains,” Mr Farrow said.
"Tomago can be among the first smelters in the world powered predominantly by renewables. But if we want that tomorrow we have to keep the lights on today. Once you lose the capacity to make aluminium you don't get it back. You can't just flick a switch in five years if the world changes. The smelter is gone, the skills are gone, the supply chain is gone.
Mr Farrow said the government also needed to do a better job of explaining how the aluminium industry helped the transition to renewable energy.
“Aluminium smelters are anchor tenants for renewable energy investment. Tomago alone accounts for more than 10 per cent of NSW's electricity consumption. That demand is what makes large-scale wind, solar and battery storage projects bankable,” Mr Farrow said.
“Lose the smelter and you lose the demand signal that justifies billions of dollars in new clean energy infrastructure across the Hunter and beyond.”
Contact details:
Anil Lambert 0416 426 722 / [email protected]