Federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has visited Bell Bay to pressure the federal government over the future of the aluminium smelter, calling on Energy Minister Chris Bowen to front up in northern Tasmania.
Taylor said the federal government was “asleep at the wheel” on the energy crisis facing Tasmanian industry.
“Chris Bowen should be here, now, talking to the local community, talking to Bell Bay Aluminium about how the Federal Government can play a role in ensuring the future of Bell Bay Aluminium,” he said.
The visit came days after more than 200 workers lost their jobs with the closure of Liberty Bell Bay.
Susie Bower, CEO of the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone, joined Taylor at the site alongside Senators Richard Colbeck and Wendy Askew and several northern mayors.
Bower called on Hydro Tasmania and the government to finalise a power deal for the smelter.
“Bell Bay Aluminium is not asking for a subsidy, it is asking for a fair price and that is a very different thing,” she said.
She said negotiations had dragged on for more than two years while 550 employees waited for certainty.
Senator Colbeck said the federal government was spending close to a billion dollars supporting industry in South Australia and hundreds of millions in New South Wales but had no presence in Tasmania.
“Tasmania has just as much right to see its manufacturing base supported as all of the other states do,” he said.
But Labor seized on Taylor’s own words, noting that when a journalist pointed out Premier Jeremy Rockliff is a Liberal and asked whether Taylor was telling him to fix the deal, Taylor replied: “He’s got to be part of it.”
Deputy Labor Leader Janie Finlay said Taylor had “blown apart” Rockliff’s excuses.
“So much for Premier Rockliff blaming Canberra, hiding behind Hydro and pretending there’s nothing more the State could do,” Finlay said.
Taylor said he spoke to Rockliff regularly and any arrangement needed to involve both levels of government alongside Rio Tinto.
He also used the visit to call on federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to block carbon credits linked to the purchase of Rushy Lagoon near Scottsdale, saying the deal would take productive farmland out of agricultural use.
