tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/alcoa-2276/articlesAlcoa – The Conversation2016-03-14T05:50:51Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/559392016-03-14T05:50:51Z2016-03-14T05:50:51ZFactCheck Q&A: can foreign seafarers be paid $2 an hour to work in Australian waters, under laws passed by Labor?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114832/original/image-20160311-11264-twnp47.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employment Minister Michaelia Cash and the opposition's Penny Wong appearing on Q&A with host Tony Jones.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VHii8ydj7IE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&A, March 7, 2016.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>MATTHEW LAWRENCE (audience member): I’m an unemployed Australian merchant seafarer. Why would any government in their right mind replace tax paying Australian seafarers with exploited foreign seafarers working on 457 visas, working for as low as $2 an hour?</p>
<p>… MICHAELIA CASH: Thank you very much for the question. Just to be sort of sure here, everything that you are referring to is currently happening under the legislation that the Labor Party brought in, in 2012…<strong>– Federal Minister for Employment and Women, Michaelia Cash, responding to audience member Matthew Lawrence <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4405538.htm">on Q&A</a>, March 7, 2016.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Australian miners, manufacturers or other firms, it can be cheaper to send cargo by sea – from one Australian port to another – than sending it by road or rail.</p>
<p>On Q&A, an unemployed merchant seafarer said Australian seafarers could replaced by foreign seafarers working on 457 visas, working for as little as $2 an hour. </p>
<p>The question came after <a href="http://www.mua.org.au/noise_outside_garners_q_a_attention">the Maritime Union of Australia</a> (MUA) had spent weeks trying to get a question put to the panel on seafaring jobs. According to the MUA, audience member <a href="http://www.mua.org.au/mua_member_matt_lawrence_on_abc_qanda">Matthew Lawrence</a> is a union member.</p>
<p>This has been a controversial issue for months, after the government granted aluminium producer Alcoa a <a href="http://www.alcoa.com/australia/en/news/releases/2016_01_13_moves_to_end_illegal_industrial_action.asp">temporary licence</a> in 2015 to use a ship crewed by foreign workers <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-13/alcoa-under-fire-for-hiring-foreign-ship-crew-to-move-cargo/6937030">to transport alumina</a> between Western Australia and Victoria. The firm wanted to use the foreign-manned vessel for the domestic route after selling its own ship, the ageing MV Portland.</p>
<p>The union protested the granting of the temporary licence, saying <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/muanational/pages/3455/attachments/original/1447048738/MV_Portland_Crew_Statement.pdf?1447048738">Australian workers may have been able to do the job</a>. Alcoa <a href="http://www.alcoa.com/australia/en/news/releases/2016_01_13_moves_to_end_illegal_industrial_action.asp">said</a> it sought a quote for the job from a company with Australian-flagged ships, but received no reply.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2012A00055/Html/Text#_Toc327452028'">Federal Court ruled in 2015</a> that while there were problems with the way the government notified interested parties about Alcoa’s application, the licence remained valid.</p>
<p>The issue was debated at length on Q&A and you can read the comments in context in the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4405538.htm">transcript here</a>.</p>
<p>This FactCheck aims to answer two key questions about what’s allowed under Australian law: </p>
<ul>
<li>Can foreign seafarers on as little as $2 an hour work on domestic shipping routes in Australian waters?</li>
<li>And was Employment Minister Michaelia Cash right that this is allowed under legislation passed by Labor in 2012?</li>
</ul>
<h2>Can foreign seafarers on $2 an hour work on domestic shipping routes in Australian waters?</h2>
<p>It is true foreign crew on roughly US$2 an hour can work on domestic shipping routes in Australian waters – though only under certain conditions. </p>
<p>But it is wrong to say this can happen using 457 visas. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2012A00055/Html/Text#_Toc327452028">Coastal Trading (Revitalising Australian Shipping) Act 2012</a>, passed by the Gillard government (and <a href="http://www.mua.org.au/shipping_reform_passing_parliament_will_save_australia_s_shipping_industry">supported by the Maritime Union of Australia</a>), allows for the granting of temporary licences, subject to certain conditions.</p>
<p>These temporary licences allow companies to use foreign ships and foreign crews working under a <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/Spec">special purpose visa</a> to transport goods between Australian ports.</p>
<p>These foreign workers can be paid under “existing international arrangements” for the first two domestic voyages in Australian coastal waters.</p>
<p>What’s that mean in wage terms? Brandt Wagner, head of the Transport and Maritime Unit at the International Labour Organisation, an agency of the United Nations in Geneva, told The Conversation by email that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---sector/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_250409.pdf">current minimum monthly basic pay or wage figure for able seafarers</a>, which became effective on January 1, 2016, is currently US$614. The International Labour Organisation does not refer to an hourly figure but only the monthly figure.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The International Transport Workers’ Federation says a typical able seafarer may work around <a href="http://www.itfseafarers.org/files/seealsodocs/33560/itfuniformtcccba20122014.pdf">around 263 hours a month</a> (40 hours a week plus 103 hours of overtime). </p>
<p>That gets you an average hourly rate of around US$2.33 (roughly A$3.11 in Australian dollars). A little over, but not far off the figure cited by Matthew Lawrence on Q&A. This rate is well below the Australian award wage.</p>
<p>Dean Summers, an inspector with the <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/en/transport-sectors/seafarers/">International Transport Workers’ Federation</a> (ITF), said the ITF was aware of a foreign-flagged vessel working in Australian waters that paid close to $US2 an hour for foreign seafarers working on the vessel.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The already paltry wage is not a requirement and there are many ships trading on our coast that are not paying the US$2.10 figure as it is not regulated… The reality is that there are zero minimum wages for international seafarers. The international shipping lobbyists quote an International Labor Organisation minimum rate of US$1000 per month but that is a voluntary figure and completely unenforceable in any jurisdiction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can read his full response <a href="https://theconversation.com/full-response-from-the-international-transport-workers-federation-and-maritime-union-of-australia-56270">here</a>. </p>
<p>Under the law, however, a temporary licence holder is allowed to use foreign crews paid under existing international arrangements for only the first two domestic voyages per temporary licence granted. </p>
<p>A spokesman for Employment Minister Michaelia Cash told The Conversation by email that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The true situation on foreign worker wages is that when a foreign vessel operates domestically (which can only happen under a temporary licence), the crew are paid under whatever existing international arrangements apply on that vessel for the first two domestic voyages only. From the third domestic voyage onwards, crew on foreign vessels must be paid no less than the Australian Award. The Australian Award (set by the Fair Work Commission) expressly includes pay rates for workers on foreign vessels … Any suggestion that temporary licences are being used to engage a foreign crew on $2 an hour as a permanent replacement for Australian crew is wrong and nothing more than a scare campaign of misinformation being run by the MUA and Labor.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can read the spokesman’s full response <a href="http://theconversation.com/full-response-from-a-spokesman-for-michaelia-cash-and-penny-wong-56131">here</a>, as well as a comment from a spokeswoman for Opposition Senate Leader Penny Wong, who was part of the same Q&A discussion.</p>
<p>So yes, foreign seafarers working for roughly US$2 an hour can work on ships moving cargo between Australian ports, as long as it’s on a foreign vessel operating under a temporary licence. But this can only happen on the first two domestic voyages.</p>
<h2>Was the minister right that this is allowed under legislation passed by Labor in 2012?</h2>
<p>The short answer is yes, Senator Cash is right. </p>
<p>As established above, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2012A00055/Html/Text#_Toc327452028">Coastal Trading (Revitalising Australian Shipping) Act 2012</a> passed by the Gillard government expressly allows for companies to apply for a temporary licence to use a foreign ship with a foreign crew moving material from one part of coastal Australia to another.</p>
<p>Among the objects of the Act is promotion of a viable shipping industry that contributes to the broader Australian economy and facilitation of the long term growth of the Australian shipping industry.</p>
<p>The work must first be advertised locally to give local ships an opportunity to respond to the work.</p>
<p>So why is this even up for debate? It’s because in the MV Portland case, the Maritime Union of Australia <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2015/187.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=%22Ms%20JD%20Williams%22">argued in court</a> that problems with the way Alcoa’s application for a temporary licence was advertised may have put local operators at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>The Federal Court <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2015/187.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=%22Ms%20JD%20Williams%22">decided</a> while the government didn’t publish the notice in compliance with the law, the temporary licence was still valid.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Foreign seafarers working for roughly US$2 an hour <em>can</em> work on ships moving cargo between Australian ports, as long as it’s on a foreign vessel operating under a temporary licence. But this can only happen on the first two domestic voyages. </p>
<p>It is wrong to say this can happen using 457 visas. </p>
<p>The minister was right to say those foreign seafarer and temporary licence rules are covered by the legislation passed by the Labor government in 2012. <strong>– Joanna Howe</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This is a sound analysis. The author correctly notes that the current law, passed under the last Labor government in 2012, does allow for firms to apply for and be granted temporary licences that allow the use of foreign-manned vessels to transport goods from one Australian port to another. This is subject to conditions, including that the work be advertised locally first and that the licence holder use foreign workers for no more than the first two domestic voyages undertaken under the licence. </p>
<p>Given the International Labour Organisation puts the minimum wage for able seafarers at US$614 a month, and given that a standard month of work would be around 260 hours, it is fair to say this works out at an average wage of between US$2 and US$3 an hour. <strong>– Tess Hardy</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><em>UPDATE: This story was updated at 11.04am AEST on March 15 to include quotes from a spokesman from the International Transport Workers Federation, and a link to his full response <a href="https://theconversation.com/full-response-from-the-international-transport-workers-federation-and-maritime-union-of-australia-56270">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55939/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tess Hardy has previously received ARC Linkage funds and separate funding from the Fair Work Ombudsman.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On Q&A, an unemployed merchant seafarer said Australian seafarers could replaced by foreign seafarers working on 457 visas, working for as little as $2 an hour. We check the facts.Joanna Howe, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/231352014-02-18T02:48:30Z2014-02-18T02:48:30ZAustralian aluminium outgunned by cheap, coal-free global rivals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41739/original/2bt4z2cr-1392683487.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C30%2C3328%2C2198&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alcoa is to close its Point Henry smelter in Geelong.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alcoa’s decision to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-18/aluminium-producer-alcoa-confirms-decision-to-close-point-henry/5266330">close the Point Henry smelter</a>, at a cost of almost 1000 jobs in Geelong and elsewhere, comes amid a perfect storm buffeting Australia’s aluminium industry.</p>
<p>Point Henry will be the second of Australia’s <a href="http://aluminium.org.au/australian-aluminium/australian-aluminium">six aluminium smelters</a> to close, after the demise of Kurri Kurri in 2012.</p>
<p>Implications for the industry, its workers and local communities are grave, and the situation is piling pressure onto state and federal governments already reeling from the shrinkage of other Australian manufacturing sectors. Where did it all go wrong?</p>
<h2>A formerly world-class industry</h2>
<p>The aluminium story weaves together three distinct plots. The first is one of an industry based on world-scale bauxite deposits, that built what were once world-class refineries and smelters, and at its peak employed more than 17,000 people. However, raw reserves are never enough and the Australian industry has seen the global sector change around it, with economies of scale achieved by offshore competitors throwing down a tough cost challenge. </p>
<p>The second plot is a classic study in government industry assistance that was once seen as sound strategic policy, but now looks like just another subsidy for an unsustainable industry. </p>
<p>The third and most recent plot revolves around the global challenge of climate change that means an electricity-hungry product like aluminium becomes a villain in countries where electricity generation is particularly emissions-intensive.</p>
<h2>A question of competitiveness</h2>
<p>Aluminium is produced in two stages: first, bauxite ore is refined into alumina, and this alumina is then smelted to produce aluminium. Alumina refineries tend to be located close to the resource, and Australia’s refineries are generally well-located and commercially competitive. The recent exception is at Rio Tinto’s Gove refinery in the Northern Territory, which will <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-19/rio-tinto-gove-refinery-to-close-in-july/5167992">close this year</a> after struggling with a move from high-cost oil to an alternative such as gas.</p>
<p>For Australia’s smelters, the logistics are different. The raw material, alumina, can be transported relatively cheaply around the world. Aluminium smelting uses huge amounts of electricity, so the cost of that electricity is a key factor in the competitiveness of a smelter. Although China dominates global production, Australia has been among the top five producers in recent years. </p>
<p>When Australia’s smelters were built they benefited from very cheap, long-term electricity agreements with government-owned power companies. These smelters were paying around half to two-thirds of the price paid by other large industrial electricity consumers. The result for aluminium producers was they could be in the top half or even the top quarter in terms of global cost-effectiveness.</p>
<p>In recent years, there have been big – and generally bad – changes. First, global aluminium prices have been sliding since early 2011, threatening the viability of those producers that were struggling to keep costs down. Second, liberalisation of Australia’s electricity market has meant the end of subsidised power contracts. Market-based electricity prices push even the best-performing of Australia’s smelters out of the top 25% of global competitiveness.</p>
<h2>The impact of carbon pricing</h2>
<p>And then there is climate change. With the exception of <a href="http://aluminium.org.au/australian-aluminium/aluminium-bellbay">Bell Bay</a> in Tasmania, which <a href="http://www.examiner.com.au/story/157260/new-power-deal-saves-500-jobs-at-smelter/">uses hydro power</a>, Australia’s smelters produce 15-20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of aluminium because their electricity comes from fossil fuels, mainly coal. This is two to three times the global average. A carbon price of A$20-30 per tonne has a noticeable impact. </p>
<p>Around the world, newly-built smelters have used gas, hydro, geothermal or nuclear power, with low or near-zero emissions. New production has also been targeted to places such as the Middle East, Canada and Iceland with lower electricity prices because there are relatively few alternative uses for the electricity. </p>
<p>This means that arguments to protect Australia’s aluminium from carbon pricing, based on the idea that the emissions will leak to another country, are likely to be wrong. The emissions may well be driven overseas by cheaper pricing, but those emissions are also likely to be significantly reduced as a result.</p>
<p>Together, these factors drive Australia’s smelters into the bottom 25% of global competitiveness.</p>
<h2>A bleak future</h2>
<p>With two of Australia’s six smelters now gone, what are the ramifications if the other four follow suit? For the electricity sector, which is already under pressure from falling demand, losing a customer base representing around 15% of the market would be a big blow. </p>
<p>As the global aluminium market further evolves and climate change policies become serious, the viability of aluminium smelting in Australia looks challenging. There are clear consequences for a sector that directly employs around 4,500 people and generates some A$5 billion in exports. </p>
<p>An intriguing alternative picture was painted by the <a href="http://www.garnautreview.org.au/2008-review.html">2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review</a>. A long-term positive future could emerge for aluminium production in Australia if rising carbon prices drive a low-cost, emissions-free electricity supply sector in Australia. </p>
<p>But in the context of current climate change politics, with carbon pricing set to be repealed and the Renewable Energy Target now <a href="https://theconversation.com/renewables-inquiry-leader-vows-open-mind-on-targets-future-23305">under review</a>, this prospect seems frustratingly far away.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Wood owns shares in Origin Energy directly, and a range of Australian and international equities via superannuation.</span></em></p>Alcoa’s decision to close the Point Henry smelter, at a cost of almost 1000 jobs in Geelong and elsewhere, comes amid a perfect storm buffeting Australia’s aluminium industry. Point Henry will be the second…Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/52892012-02-09T04:21:04Z2012-02-09T04:21:04ZThe solutions to Alcoa’s problems may lie in its backyard<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7507/original/2h444szj-1328756433.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C11%2C946%2C633&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With Alcoa reviewing its Geelong smelter, just what is the future for the aluminium industry?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sight of molten metal pouring from a furnace has long been an iconic symbol of industrial might and wealth. </p>
<p>In Australia, the metallurgical industries have provided long term jobs and wealth to many communities. In some cases, this wealth generation has also been associated with unacceptable environmental damage, however, those problems are now largely historical, as furnace technology and practices have advanced greatly since the 1960s.</p>
<p>However, the industry is now under real threat in this country, not from angry environmentalists, but from the recent growth and investment in mining in Australia, which largely reflects the extraordinary industrial expansion of China. </p>
<p>These two combined forces are now placing tremendous pressure on Australia’s metallurgical industry, as the demand for ore drives up the dollar, making it very difficult for our aluminium, steel and other base metal producers to compete in the global economy.</p>
<p>This dilemma is especially apparent in Geelong, where recent announcements from Alcoa are casting doubt about the future of the Point Henry aluminium smelter. This plant is particularly vulnerable because of its age, scale and product mix. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C37%2C981%2C1451&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7504/original/cxs2h6js-1328756083.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sustainable practices might ensure a long-term future for Australia’s aluminium industry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Point Henry works started operating in 1963, and though it has improved energy efficiency and productivity with time, its electrolytic cells are comparatively small and have higher energy usage compared to new, larger smelters in the Middle East and China. </p>
<p>Over 50% of the plant’s 190,000 tonne per annum capacity is directed towards export and historically Alcoa’s two Victorian smelters have been the state’s largest exporter earners. </p>
<p>The potential closure of the Point Henry works would not only be a major financial setback to Geelong, but to Victoria as a whole. The Point Henry plant also has significant advantages over other aluminium plants in the world, such as good infrastructure, a well trained workforce, stable electricity supply, good environmental standards and direct connection to local industries. </p>
<p>Worldwide, Alcoa has recently closed plants in Italy, Spain and the United States, as it tries to rationalise its operation around the world and compete more effectively. In this context, a “review” is good news and an opportunity for government bodies in Australia to take stock and work with Alcoa to find a better future.</p>
<p>On the other side of the ledger, the two smelters also consume approximately 20% of the state’s electricity supply and so they also represent large contributions to the State’s greenhouse gas generation. Industry experts are somewhat divided on how important the carbon tax is to Alcoa’s thinking. </p>
<p>Certainly, in the short term, the high Australian dollar and strong competition from Asia and the Middle East in the export market are the greatest threats, whereas the structure of the new tax, and its rebates for energy intensive industries like aluminium, means that its effects will be delayed. The Australian Aluminium Council has argued that the carbon will adversely affect medium to long term investment strategies of companies.</p>
<p>I believe that as a nation we should be more proactively engaging with this industry. Australia has great natural resources for aluminium production, good infrastructure and world class scientific know-how to improve the situation in our favour. It is clear to many researchers in this field that using lots of energy to make relatively low grade products is not a winning strategy. </p>
<p>The long-term route to wealth for a country like Australia is to develop metallurgical industries where the products are quite distinguishable in terms of quality and value from what is being produced in Asia. In this scenario, lowering the energy use and overall greenhouse gas generation will only work to make the industry more sustainable. </p>
<p>Ironically, the knowledge to make these changes is right in Point Henry’s backyard, as there is top class research into aluminium production, products and properties at Deakin, Swinburne and Monash Universities, as well as the CSIRO laboratories in Melbourne. </p>
<p>For example, new materials for limiting energy losses from the aluminium process are under development at<a href="http://www.swinburne.edu.au/engineering/htp/"> Swinburne</a>. New alloys and composite materials are being researched at <a href="http://www.eng.monash.edu.au/materials/research/centres/lightmetals/">Monash</a> and <a href="http://www.deakin.edu.au/itri/cmfi/">Deakin</a>. <a href="http://www.swinburne.edu.au/engineering/staff/akbar-rhamdhani/">Dr Akbar Rhamdhani</a> at Swinburne is working with <a href="http://eng.monash.edu.au/materials/about/people/profile/eastonma">Dr Mark Easton</a> at Monash to find ways to make very high purity aluminium. I personally head up a <a href="http://www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine/8/150/bid-to-keep-aluminium-shining/">national consortium</a> of Australasian Universities working with CSIRO on breakthrough technology for Aluminium production. Greater engagement from government and industry with such research bodies is required, if a more positive scenario is to be followed.</p>
<p>In the short term, I suspect that “survival” will be the strategy pursued by government and the metallurgical industry in this country. In the medium to long term, I suggest that innovation coupled with sustainability, is where we need to be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/5289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Brooks receives funding from CSIRO for work of relevance to this article.</span></em></p>The sight of molten metal pouring from a furnace has long been an iconic symbol of industrial might and wealth. In Australia, the metallurgical industries have provided long term jobs and wealth to many…Geoffrey Brooks, Professor of Engineering, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.