Opened the debate
Lambie argued that steel and manganese are essential for Australian sovereign capability, particularly for producing hardened steel. Lambie contended that Sanjeev Gupta’s business model involved acquiring struggling facilities, making promises to local communities, and then abandoning them when commodity prices shifted. Lambie questioned why the Foreign Investment Review Board approved these purchases, noting that Victorian Treasury officials had previously blocked a similar acquisition of the Portland smelter. Lambie asserted that the government merely watched these facilities decline rather than preventing their collapse, resulting in the loss of jobs and industrial capacity.