Whyalla locals react to steelworks intervention with hope for brighter ...

While the SA Premier says a decision to put the Whyalla steelworks into administration is about Australia's steelmaking future, it's also about the many workers, contractors and businesses that rely on it for their livelihoods.

The Upper Spencer Gulf city, with a population of almost 22,000 people, again made headlines as the state government announced it had forced the town's biggest employer, the Whyalla steelworks, into administration.

The move ends GFG Alliance's ownership of the troubled industrial plant, with the government appointing KordaMentha as administrators.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to unveil details of a $2 billion package to secure the future of the regional city and ensure the viability of the plant in the long-term.

He has not ruled out nationalising the site.

Problems at the steelworks in recent months have had a flow-on effect in Whyalla, with local contractors laying off staff due to unpaid bills from GFG Alliance, which is chaired by Sanjeev Gupta.

Christena Faulks, a Whyalla resident of more than 40 years, said she was "glad" the government intervened and was "actually amazed that it hasn't happened before now".

"The steelworks and the town will be able to get ahead because there's a lot of people that have suffered in the town, businesses, the contractors, because they aren't getting any work," she said.

Ms Faulks said her husband was an engineer at the steelworks' blast furnace where workers have been "doing it very tough".

Last year, the blast furnace endured two separate months-long shutdowns that halted steel production and cost GFG millions.

"There's either not enough equipment or not enough coke [coal] or something else, and so they've found it very difficult to work in that sort of environment …" she said.

"They had things that kept going wrong, it wasn't always the blast furnace's fault, there's other things like maintenance issues elsewhere in the plant."

Families in Whyalla 'severely affected'

Apprentice Callan Jordison, 21, who works with a Whyalla steelworks contractor, said he had been stressed over the past few months about a lack of work.

"It's been a bit up and down, a bit worrying to see if [I'm] still going to have a job, hopefully it all works out," he said.

"We used to get a lot of work with the gear boxes and now it's slowed right down … there's more things I think I could have picked up or learned if I had all that work throughout the whole apprenticeship."

The anxiety over GFG Alliance's finances has also affected local business owners and contractors.

Roger Jordan is the owner of Whyalla business SkyVision, which supplies communications equipment to the steelworks.

He welcomed the state government's intervention and said local businesses and workers had responded positively.

"We have to spare a thought for families in Whyalla who have been severely affected by this crisis and our hearts go out to them," he said.

"But starting tomorrow [Thursday] we've got to move forward, be positive.

"I think what they've [the government's] done is courageous and it's a very positive outcome that they're delivering."

The optimism comes as Premier Peter Malinauskas prepares to announce on Thursday an "industry support package" for affected contractors and workers in Whyalla.

Mr Malinauskas, who will be joined in Whyalla by Mr Albanese and Federal Industry Minister Ed Husic, said the support package would be "one of the most comprehensive industry support packages that this nation has ever seen".

Administrators KordaMentha also said keeping the steelworks running would "preserve around 4,000 direct and indirect jobs".

Mr Jordan said there was still a "lot of work that needs to be done at the steelworks to pull the steelworks back to where it should be".

"GFG has played a pretty hard game, the umpire's called time on it and I think we need to move forward," he said.

"The hard work starts [Thursday]."

Memories of previous issues at the steelworks

It's not the first time there has been uncertainty in Whyalla about the future of the steelworks.

In 2016, the steelworks' former owner Arrium went into administration, putting the future of the more than 1,000 workers in jeopardy. 

GFG Alliance then purchased the steelworks in 2017 and promised new investment.

Australian Workers' Union Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula branch organiser Shane Karger drew comparisons between GFG's current situation and Arrium's administration.

"We can go back to the Arrium days just before administration and the uncertainty there, to go through that administration process, to have a buyer that then went into financial crisis," Mr Karger told ABC News 24.

"And to go through all that heartache again, it's been a very, very long, tough road for the workers.

"It's very disheartening for them [workers] to keep going back to the plant that they're proud to work at and to see it continue to degrade in condition."

Malcolm McLeod, president of Whyalla Business and Tourism, said many contractors and businesses in Whyalla "are still bearing the scars from 2016".

"There have been several businesses that have basically put tools down, and there's lots of them that have been making their employees take annual leave," he told ABC News 24.

"There's been many that have laid people off, obviously, because they haven't had any work at the steelworks.

"It's slowly, slowly got worse and obviously that money's not going around in the community."

'Every business in town has felt it'

Whyalla butcher Tim Wendland said the uncertainty around the steelworks has been "tough for the whole town".

"We got small businesses here that are going broke or leaving town," he said.

"Going forward, how is the steelworks going to work if half of these businesses pack up and leave?

"Most of the businesses in town rely indirectly on the steelworks and the subcontractors, if they're not getting paid it's just a filter effect.

"I think every business in town has felt it."

The impact of the last six months on Whyalla's economy has prompted calls for the state government to have acted sooner.

Business owner and former Whyalla deputy mayor Tom Antonio said the intervention should have happened four or five months ago.

"Had we done that four months ago, there may have not been 500 job losses," he told ABC Radio SA's Regional Drive.

"There may have been people that have not left our town and sold their houses and we may have not have the debt that those creditors have accumulated now."

But Mr Antonio also said the city and state government could now secure the future of the steelworks.

"It feels like we're in a different world altogether," he said.

"We can breathe a big sigh of relief and we can move forward."