ASI advocacy initiatives in 2025-2026 included:
- An ASI-initiated Productivity Commission Safeguard inquiry is now reviewing whether measures are needed to provide short-term protection for the fabricated steel industry, which is under threat from a flood of low-priced imports. Interim findings are due later in the year, and a final report is expected in November 2026. https://www.steel.org.au/what-we-do/advocacy/asi-campaign-on-imported-fabricated-steelwork/
- A major ASI priority in 2025-2026 was championing local content in state and federal government contracts. The work included lobbying ministers responsible for government procurement to enforce and further tighten regulations specifying local content in government contracts. It also included providing input to governments as a member of select panels to develop policy on local steel content in government projects.
- Successfully supported advocacy for an east-coast gas reservation to combat high local energy costs.
- Promoted the local steel supply chain’s capability to build infrastructure for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics in meetings with government and suppliers, and via news stories and ASI web pages.
- Presented online to a global meeting of trade ministers and diplomatic staff in South Africa on steel excess capacity. The meeting provided unprecedented international access and profile for the Australian steel industry.
- Presented to the Ministerial Industry Forum on Trade Remedies Reform hosted by Federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres about issues and shortcomings with existing trade measures, including anti-subsidy and antidumping investigations being essentially inaccessible to SMEs due to the cost, extended timeframes, and complexity.
