CANBERRA—Australia's two remaining steel makers could be taken over by an Indian or Chinese competitor for a bargain price, a trade union leader says.
Manufacturing unions, Industry Minister Kim Carr and 13 manufacturers met in Canberra on Wednesday to work out how a sector that employs one million Australians could be globally competitive.
Following the meeting at Parliament House, Australian Workers' Union national secretary Paul Howes expressed concern about the future of Australia's two remaining steel makers, OneSteel and BlueScope.
"I still have a grave fear about the future of those two companies, and what it would mean for the emerging global players in steel, particularly from India, South Korea and China, if they were to be able to make a bargain-basement acquisition," Mr Howes told reporters in Canberra.
One Steel's executive general manager of human resources, Bill Gately, was among the company leaders meeting in Canberra.
The gathering comes less than a week after Bridgestone announced it was axing 600 jobs at its Adelaide tyre-making plant, ending tyre manufacturing in Australia.
Mr Howes said Bridgestone's decision would affect local manufacturers, like electric car maker Better Place Australia, in decades to come.
"It will hold us back on new and exciting plans," he said.
"If they still manufacture tyres in the United States, I can't understand why we can't manufacture tyres here in Australia."
While the manufacturing forum did not adopt policy solutions, academic Roy Green, who chaired the meeting, said the sector did not want to rely on government subsidies.
"Government spending and funding of initiatives will be part of that but it will not be a matter of keeping industries propped up which can't be competitive," Dr Green, the dean of business at the University of Technology Sydney, told reporters.
"I don't think this government would take that view."
