Whyalla's steelworks has been plunged into administration twice in little more than a decade, most recently in February 2025. In September, the South Australian government revealed that the site's blast furnace, which had been shut down for months, would not be restarted. That decision placed more than 600 jobs in jeopardy.
Barry Drage, a former One Nation candidate, is part of the first cohort of workers who have accepted redundancy packages. On his final day, he said he had considered redeployment but decided against it because, by the time a new blast furnace might become operational, he would be near retirement age. He acknowledged that many colleagues face a difficult choice.
"I've known a few workers who are facing the reality of having to leave, even go up to Roxby Downs for work or even over to WA," Drage said. "If they keep their base here as a FIFO worker, then the town's still got a decent economy. But if people just disperse out into Australia, it's a worry."
The redundancy round marks another blow for Whyalla, a town on South Australia's upper Eyre Peninsula that has long relied on the steelworks as its primary employer. The state government has not detailed its plans for a new blast furnace or other long-term investment at the site.