Devastating blow to Whyalla Steelworks workers
InDaily understands a significant call has been made on the steelworks, 19 months after a $2.4 billion bailout.
News is emerging that a $2.4 billion taxpayer bailout of the Whyalla Steelworks has failed to save hundreds of jobs attached to the ageing blast furnace.
InDaily was told by a Whyalla resident that Premier Peter Malinauskas this morning met some of the steelworks’ workers near the plant and said it would be shut down and jobs lost.
The blast furnace has about 500 jobs connected to it but there are many others still working for the plant.
A press conference about the future of the embattled Whyalla Steelworks, which is currently being propped up with $2.4 billion taxpayer dollars, is expected this afternoon.
It is understood that about 150 jobs have been organised for redundant workers with miner BHP and construction supplies company Hallett Group.
SA Unions President Jennie-Marie Gorman said the news was “deeply concerning”.
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“South Australia can’t afford to lose skilled workers from Whyalla now, and then scramble to bring those skills back in a few years’ time,” Gorman said.
“Workers who have built their lives in Whyalla should be at the front of the queue for new jobs, training, and opportunities created by future investment.
“We expect both the State and Federal Governments to use every lever available to support workers and keep skills, jobs, and families in Whyalla.”
It comes amid a prolonged shutdown of the facility’s ageing blast furnace, offline since April. But InDaily understands this afternoon’s announcement would not involve revealing the administrator’s pick of the company it wants to buy the struggling business.
Steelworks administrators KordaMentha were meant to announce their preferred bidder by the end of September for the business that it took over running in February 2025, a business that will require billions of dollars in investment to get it up operating again.
Premier Peter Malinauskas and Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis are in Whyalla for the press conference and to meet with Whyalla Steelworks workers.
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Speaking to reporters yesterday, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the “blast furnace is in an exceptionally precarious position, and that problem has only been intensifying”.
“This is a challenge we always knew was coming,” the Premier said.
“The blast furnaces’ days have always been numbered and it looks like that number is becoming increasingly small, to say the least.
“But the big picture here, of course, is the transaction. Obviously a new owner will come in and put new technology and capital into the steelworks, and on that regard we remain very optimistic about the long-term future of Whyalla.”
The news comes after administrators KordaMentha – who took control of the Steelworks in February 2025 following extraordinary intervention by the Malinauskas government – recently revealed their funding hat now hit one billion dollars.
This figure was revealed in a document shared with creditors of OneSteel Manufacturing – the former operator of the Steelworks owned by British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta that was thrust into administration by the state government.
KordaMentha said the figure was in line with the state government’s 2026/27 state budget.
In February last year, the state and federal governments unveiled the $2.4 billion city-saving package, with money set aside for the administrators and to pay back creditors of OneSteel. Funds were also earmarked for future upgrades of the plant.
A decision is also imminent on whether KordaMentha will select one of two final preferred bidders for the Steelworks.
Either Indian steel giant Jindal Steel International or Australian-owned M Resources will be named as the preferred buyer of the plant.
But Australian steel business BlueScope – the company that has been advising KordaMentha on the steelworks current operations – has the first right of refusal for any deal put forward, keeping it firmly in the running to purchase the ailing asset.
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