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The announcement in August 2011 that BlueScope Steel were about to close
one of its Port Kembla blast furnaces and cease steel exports quickly spurred
public debate in Australia, not just about steel but about the very future of
manufacturing in Australia. Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Paul
Howes thus suggested: ‘The question the Australian community needs to ask
itself – is do we want to be a country that still makes things? Do we want to
value-‐‑add to our natural resources, or do we want to become just one big sandpit
for China and a tourism resort for North Asia?’