Steel town Whyalla left in limbo
Opting for gas over green iron would undermine Australia's climate targets and squander Whyalla's unique advantages.
In an interview with ABC’s 7.30 program, Rod Sims discussed the uncertain future of the Whyalla steelworks, a cornerstone of the South Australian town and Australia’s only producer of key structural steel.
After entering administration and receiving significant state and federal support, the plant’s long-promised transition to green iron and steel remains in limbo, with governments weighing hydrogen against gas as an interim solution.
18 February 2026, ABC 7.30, interview transcript:
“If the Commonwealth Government decides that it’s gas rather than a green project, then I think they’re really saying no to anything happening in Australia in terms of green iron.
I think it would be a disaster for Whyalla. It would be a disaster for Australia. It would be a disaster for our climate.
Whyalla is potentially the best place in the world to make green iron. It’s got the right iron ore – magnetite iron ore – which is what you need to make green iron. It’s got the workforce. It’s got the port. It’s got the transmission lines. So it’s the ideal place.
I think it would blow the Government’s targets out of the water. You’d be using a lot of gas, which obviously emits carbon pollution, and the Government already has great difficulty meeting its targets. To have gas at Whyalla would be almost saying, “Well, I don’t care about the targets anymore.”
Rod Sims is Enterprise Professor at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, and Chair of The Superpower Institute.