Ministers often leave research facility launches to Australian Research Council officers, what with their purposes oft arcane. One yesterday was too good to miss

It’s the Industrial Transformation Research Programme’s Steel Research Hub, based at the University of Wollongong.

Education Minister Jason Clare did the honours, accompanied by Alyson Byrnes, member for the local electorate of Cunningham.

Stand on tip-toes at UoW and you can just about seen the steelworks at Port Kembla, long a foundation of the Illawarra region’s economy.