The announcement that Chevron intends to import 25 000 tonnes of steel for the Gorgon Project in Western Australia means an opportunity for 2000 jobs including 300 apprenticeships will be lost.

The Manufacturing Alliance today expressed outrage at the lack of action from the state and federal government to ensure the Australian bid for the work was successful.

“This is a significant setback for Australian industry and a major lost opportunity to deliver a real boost to local industry and literally thousands of jobs”, said Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union National Secretary, Dave Oliver.

“We should not allow steel of this volume to be imported while Australian workshops sit idle. The next resources boom will not benefit Australians if we allow companies to source so much work from overseas.”

Australian Workers Union National Secretary, Paul Howes, said that other governments around the world would not allow such a significant project to import such huge amounts of content when it could be sourced locally.

“It is a major failing for a project of this size to go ahead without conditions on local content and for so many job opportunities to be lost.”

The Manufacturing Alliance called for upcoming projects to have much stricter conditions, including guarantees on local content.