Sanjeev Gupta’s ill-fated takeover of Whyalla Steelworks has come to its expected end, with 600 jobs lost. What’s the scam?
The scam is that Sanjeev Gupta’s debt-fuelled foray should never have received the support it got from naive State and Federal governments who failed to see the writing on the wall.
As Gupta still lives the high life in Sydney (according to the AFR $), the $2.4B proposed gift package to rescue Whyalla has come to naught.
Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley told MWM, “Putting bandaids on an antiquated, beyond end-of-life facility degraded for almost a decade under the watch of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance has proven to be simply a waste of taxpayer funds.”
Buckley says there is still hope, though. “The future for Whyalla lies in an electric arc furnace (EAF) using electricity powered by renewables to produce steel at a fraction of the emissions of coal-fired blast furnaces, and developing the state’s valuable magnetite iron ore resources.”
Whyalla rescue, Santos gift. A multi-billion-fossil-subsidy-fest in the pipeline?
Kim Wingerei is a businessman turned writer and commentator. He is passionate about free speech, human rights, democracy and the politics of change. Originally from Norway, Kim first came to Australia in 1989. Author of ‘Why Democracy is Broken – A Blueprint for Change’.