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Elizabeth Knight Business columnist October 8, 2025 — 3.54pm

If the federal government didn’t fully appreciate the precedent it set when doling out a $2.4 billion package to rescue the ailing Whyalla steelworks , it surely does now.

With the Swiss multinational Glencore winning a $600 million lifeline to keep the lights on at its Queensland copper smelter and refinery for a bit longer, a conga line of uneconomic industrial facilities are standing by with palms open.

Whyalla may have been a one-off attempt at protecting Australia’s sovereign capability in making steel, but bailouts have since become a habit. In August, there was a $135 million federal and state government rescue package for Nyrstar’s struggling smelters in South Au

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