Geelong boss tells inquiry: Carbon tax to kill galvaniser

JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A GEELONG galvanising firm will lose work and jobs to product imported from countries without a carbon tax, an inquiry has heard.
Geelong Galvanising general manager David Chaston included the warning in his submission to a Senate inquiry into Australia’s proposed carbon tax.
“There is a threat to our industry of pre-galvanised product from China (that) does not have the same carbon tax,” Mr Chaston said.
“We don’t mind competing against imported product but we pay the tax and the imports don’t.
“Importers do not have the same cost impost and work is already being lost in the industry because of it.”
Mr Chaston said the industry was already operating at only 40 per cent capacity because of the level of imports.
“It would be okay if it was a level playing field and we don’t mind paying a price for carbon but not if no one else is doing it.”
Mr Chaston said he saw what happened when tariff protections were removed while he was involved in the automotive industry.
Geelong Galvanising employs 30 people at its hot-dip galvanising plant in Bacchus Marsh Rd, Corio.
Galvanising Association of Australia chief Peter Golding said the tax was “certainly a concern”.
“The carbon tax has a net effect on the value of the production chain from iron ore to steel, fabricators, galvanisers and end-users. It has costs added to it all along the process and the galvanisers are at the end of the chain and it’s difficult to influence the outcome.
“If Australian steel is higher than the cost of foreign product it’s no surprise the big engineering firms are looking offshore to buy product. The high Australian dollar is making it cheaper to import.
“As a country we need to get the balance right.”
Mr Golding said the industry had a capacity of 700,000 tonnes but five to six times that total capacity was imported.
“We’re not looking for protectionism but we do want to go in fairly and quote on jobs and deliver Australian product and maintain Australian jobs.
“We don’t even know what the net effect of the carbon tax is going to be but we expect it to be negative.”