by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 169-year-old glass manufacturer based in Dandenong South has collapsed after warning of the impact of cheap imports being dumped in Australia.
Oceania Glass – which employs much of its 261 workforce at Dandenong – was announced as in the hands of voluntary administrators at Grant Thornton Australia on 4 February.
The business will continue to trade during the voluntary administration period, with a view to selling to an “appropriate buyer”, the administrators stated.
According to its website, Oceania Glass sold its first glass in 1856 and is Australia’s only maker of architectural glass. It’s considered a vital part of the glass supply sector.
Prior to its collapse, Oceania Glass submitted to the Anti-Dumping Commission that the Australian industry had suffered “material injury” as a result of clear laminate glass imported from Thailand and China at dumped and subsidised prices.
The Commissioner launched an investigation last year as a result but the issue is yet to be resolved, joint administrator Matt Byrnes said.
“The company’s view is they need better protection by the Government that would enable them to be more price-competitive.
“We’re still working through all the reasons for (Oceania Glass’s collapse) – but that’s likely to be one of them.”
Oceania Glass reportedly owes creditors an estimated $125 million-plus.
Byrnes told Star Journal that the final amount was still being worked through, including money owed to workers. More information was expected in a report to a creditors meeting on Friday 14 February.
South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance chief executive Honi Walker said Victorian manufacturers were “at a crossroads”.
“We simply can’t compete on price from China and other Asian countries.
The loss of “sovereign capability” on an “essential product” would cause homes to cost more and take longer to build with “unsafe” overseas glass, she said.
“What our governments have completely ignored is safety.
“Imported steel from China does not meet Australian Standards and was the reason the new stand at GMBH Stadium collapsed in 2023 and the Kew Recreational Centre’s roof caved in.
“Lives are at risk on many levels.”
Walker called for the reinstatement of federal anti-dumping laws to stop “cheaply, poorly made products being dumped in Australia and used on vital public projects”.
As well as the State Government to “start applying their own Local Content Jobs First policy”.
Last week, SEMMA unveilled a pitch for a halving of the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 15 per cent for Australian manufacturers.
Industry Minister Ed Husic’s office was contacted for comment.
