EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Let's head to the Federal Industry Minister now, Tim Ayres, who's joining us in Canberra. Minister, thanks for your time this morning. 

SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: G'day, Emma. It's good to be on the show.

HOST: Given what's happened in Whyalla, we know the Federal and State Governments have put a massive amount of money into the Steelworks to keep it going. How did we get here though? Why couldn't we prevent these hundreds of job losses? 

AYRES: Well, you're right that there was a decisive intervention, a shared approach of the Malinauskas Government and the Albanese Government to secure these Steelworks, to build a transformation of the Steelworks so that there is a future for decades in new steelworks, new iron making capacity, a pit to port capability here. It's really important for Australia that that happens.  

The blast furnace was left in a terrible state of disrepair. The finger of blame here should be pointed squarely at GFG for their maladministration and underinvestment in this blast furnace. It has been apparent for some time when the Governments and the administrator took over the facility, there were hundreds of safety challenges and engineering defects. And the blast furnace was one of these major issues. There's been a heroic effort by workers, the administrator, unions and local businesses to work together to secure that blast furnace. But in the end, it's unsafe that it continues. And we are pressing on with a sale that will deliver a transformed iron and steelmaking capacity there. 

HOST: Ok, so when will that steelmaking capacity return to Whyalla? What's the aim when this sale goes through? 

AYRES: Well, we're continuing to work through the sale process. There are two final bidders left. So, it's been worked through, led by the administrator in an orderly way, overseen by a joint taskforce between the two Governments. These two bidders and of course BlueScope and a consortium associated with them have the right of final offer here. So, there is still some competitive tension, still some commercial arrangements to work through in the interests of delivering a transformation here that reinvests in the facility with new steelmaking and iron making capability for the future. That is low emissions, that has got markets and that provides jobs for generations to come. 

HOST: The Coalition says this is an energy failure by the Government, net zero is making things so much worse and so difficult for manufacturers. Do the Labor Governments have to cop some blame here for how we got to this state, not just in Whyalla but across the country? 

AYRES: I was just shocked by that assertion yesterday from Mr. Hastie and Senator Canavan. It is just not remotely the reason why this blast furnace has failed. The blast furnace failed because the foreign owner of the facility deliberately didn't invest in the capability of the blast furnace. Blast furnaces require constant care, constant investment. This is an engineering problem that Australians work together so hard, hundreds of people around the steelworks who get up before these Liberal and National politicians get out of bed, work really hard all day throwing themselves at this problem.  

And then yesterday, without any facts, it was all about politics. For the Coalition and One Nation to point the finger at energy policy, which has got nothing to do with the problem because it's all about the politics for these characters. I was shocked that they would sort of use ordinary Australians who'd been working so hard as political pawns. Actually, we've got a practical set of issues. If they'd been in Whyalla, if they'd talked to the people who I've talked to – you saw Peter Malinauskas, the Premier, with the unions, with the management, with the administrators, with the companies, everybody working together. But the Canberra Liberals and Nationals and One Nation only see this through how do they seek a little bit of political advantage? It was a shameful performance yesterday. 

HOST: Minister, I'd like to ask you as well about One Nation with its migration policy. We had the National Forum on last night on the ABC in that when it comes to the cutting of the temporary migrant numbers by 750,000 over three years, Barnaby Joyce says the economic consequences are overplayed. And last night, he said voters are tired of economists. What's your reaction to that? 

AYRES: Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? I mean, when not just every economist, but regional businesses, regional business organisations like the NFF, business representative organisations are all saying this would be an economic disaster, particularly for regional Australia. And One Nation's only response is just to say – oh, that's just economists. These are real people, real businesses who are going as hard as they can, working with Government on issues like free TAFE, housing, making sure that we're doing everything we can to support regional economies and making sure that there's skilled migration there at the right level, in the right numbers. There's more work to do in our migration program. The One Nation Party announces a policy that would wreck regional economies and that's their response. I mean, real people, real jobs will suffer as a result of what's clearly very bad policy. 

HOST: Minister, just lastly, we've had the Australia's top cop, the Police Commissioner, write an opinion piece pleading with Australians to stop taking illegal drugs, arguing it's fuelling organised crime. How big of an issue is this? 

AYRES: Well, of course, it's an enormous issue for Australia. There are real consequences from our drug trade and other organised crime. We're seeing that in some of our suburbs now. Everything that the Commonwealth Government can do through the AFP and our security agencies, working in cooperation with the States and Territories. I'll give you a small example of work that many of your viewers wouldn’t appreciate, I imagine, and that is cooperation with the countries in our Pacific region. They see the effect of the illegal drugs trade as well. They see it in their communities. And working together to deal with transnational crime is absolutely the focus of the Federal Government. And some of that involves working closely with our partners in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. And that's just another reason why that international work that this Government has done to recover relationships in the region is just so important for delivering safety and security for Australians at home. 

HOST: Minister Tim Ayres, thanks for your time today. 

AYRES: Thanks very much. 

ENDS.