Martin Feld  00:09

Hello, and welcome to Voices of BlueScope, the podcast where we go behind the scenes at BlueScope to meet the people who create strength every day. I'm your host, Martin Feld; thank you for joining us. This time on the show, we're bringing you a featured interview with Thomas Oliphant at our Springhill Works in Port Kembla, Australia. Tom was named Apprentice of the Year at the 2026 Apprentice Employment Network Awards for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. This fantastic recognition came five months after he won Apprentice of the Year at the 2026 Zeal Futures Excellence Awards. Meeting us for a conversation on-site, Tom explained what motivated him to begin an apprenticeship with Zeal Futures and BlueScope, what the learning experience was like and how he feels since having completed his apprenticeship. Let's cross to the interview audio now, which was recorded outside Springhill's couple pickled cold mill (or CPCM, for short).

Tom Oliphant  01:15

So, I did a little bit of work experience and I worked a little bit after school as a trade assistant for an outside company, and I would come in and I would be a contractor at BlueScope, working with fitters, boilermakers... and I just, I enjoyed the job. I enjoyed the things I learnt and the things I saw. And so, come the time that applications opened with Zeal Futures, I applied for an apprenticeship (hosted by BlueScope) and I was lucky enough to get it. I like the hands-on sides of the job, but as well, now, in my current role, I get to do a bit more planning and office work. So, it's a good opportunity, and I get to balance on-the-tools and off-the-tools work.

Martin Feld  01:54

When you were finishing up at school and it was coming to this application time, what was it about those hands-on tasks that appealed to you? Did you have much of an idea, a visual idea, of what it would be like to work here, or what was it about machines?

Tom Oliphant  02:07

I had no idea. I like, I've always liked working with my hands and working with mechanical things. I've grown up riding motocross and playing around with bikes and I grew up on a farm with my dad, so he'd always be dragging me along to work on things and that sort of stuff. So, when I got the work experience and I understood what the job was, I saw an apprenticeship with BlueScope as the best opportunity for me to kind of follow that pathway.

Martin Feld  02:33

Mechanical stuff—that's in the blood?

Tom Oliphant  02:35

Mechanical stuff... I like mechanical stuff. Just pulling stuff apart and putting it back together, it's pretty fun, enjoyable.

Martin Feld  02:42

Wonderful! What do you recall about your first day or when you started at BlueScope and with Zeal Futures?

Tom Oliphant  02:49

First thing that comes to mind was I was with a few other apprentices. Some of those apprentices were (now) my friends, and seeing it with them, it was really fun. We went to the, I started the Hot Strip Mill roll shop and we got shown around and just seeing how big and large-scale everything is, but as well, it felt like I was doing it with friends, so, it was an enjoyable experience. And that's probably the main thing I remember from my first day. And yeah, then progressing through, I started to get a bit more hands-on, and that was when we started learning a bit more, but that initial phase was definitely just meeting new people, seeing a new group of people as well, so that was enjoyable.

Martin Feld  03:29

So, you began at the roll shop. I'm assuming you had a rotation after that.

Tom Oliphant  03:32

Yes.

Martin Feld  03:32

What other places did you get to see in your journey through the steelworks?

Tom Oliphant  03:36

So, I started at the Hot Strip Mill roll shop and then I rotated to the MCL, which is the metal coating line, which is here at Springhill, where we are now, for this, and then I came to CPCM, which is here. So I was in the Strip Mill roll shop and the MCL for my first year, and in my second year I came to CPCM, where I am now. In my third year, I rotated to the slabcaster and I spent 18 months there. And then halfway through my fourth year, I was lucky enough to be able to take on my current role as process technician here at CPCM.

Martin Feld  04:09

I do want to get to your current work, but I'm very interested to learn more about the things that you learnt and experienced along the way. Was there anything that surprised you in those other areas before you came here to the CPCM?

Tom Oliphant  04:22

Different work groups and the different ways people work and the different ways people teach... so, the, the good thing about the BlueScope apprenticeship is rotating through different work groups and seeing different, different areas, but as well, learning different ways off different people. The biggest surprise for me was the difference in every area, the different ways that maintenance groups go about their maintenance, different roles that you see around the plant. So, being here at my area, CPCM, is a different experience to working over the other side at raw materials or slab-making or at the Strip Mill and the Plate Mill. That was the biggest difference I saw, as well as just the sheer difference in plant. The size and the scale is different everywhere and the methods and practices used to make steel everywhere, obviously. We're all a different link in the chain in creating a COLORBOND® coil or a slab, so yeah.

Martin Feld  05:18

That's a great explanation; thank you for that, Tom. Now I'd love for you to paint a visual picture if you can for us (for people who are listening to the podcast and can't see where we are). No doubt you can hear we're outside, there's a bit of wind noise; we're actually outside where you normally work. Can you explain to people listening where we are, what we're standing in front of?

Tom Oliphant  05:34

Yeah, of course. So, right now we're standing out the back of CPCM or Springhill. If you're Wollongong-based, you'll know it as the COLORBOND® sign on Springhill Road (we're in there). So right now, we're standing by my acid-tank farm and the oily-water treatment plant. So, my acid tank farm is where trucks deliver raw acid for us to clean the steel as it runs through the tanks and it also returns the spent pickle liquor, which is then sold back to different companies and used for other purposes. Our oily-water treatment plant takes all the water with oil and gunk in it and it cleans it and purifies it so that water can be used for other things and just takes the bad stuff out of it. Inside the building is CPCM, which is where we get a coil from the Strip Mill, which has been taken from a slab to a coil, and we clean it, we stretch it to thickness and we side-trim it. So by the time we're finished with it, it's the correct dimensions and size to go to the coating lines, so that they can create the product that's sold.

Martin Feld  06:34

And what do you like about working here at this particular facility?

Tom Oliphant  06:38

I like the ownership I have of my piece of plant. So I work on the same equipment every day and it's, I work in a team and it's our job to make sure that it runs correctly. I like that coming here every day, it's, it's kind of like having a car, you know? It's your own car, you want it to run properly; when it breaks, you've got to fix it. It's the same thing here and having that ownership every day is quite nice. It's something that I can be proud of but it's also something I have to fix, which is also very enjoyable because sometimes, whilst they're annoying, breakdowns are a good opportunity to learn and they're a good opportunity to try and understand more about your equipment, so I like all of it.

Martin Feld  07:17

So you make a good point there: it's the importance of maintenance.

Tom Oliphant  07:20

Yeah.

Martin Feld  07:21

Yeah.

Tom Oliphant  07:21

Yeah, it's our job to make sure that this plant runs 24—is available to run 24/7. We do run 24/7, but through other, like, scheduling and stuff, we might not run for periods of time. But that's only a few hours, maybe a day. So it's, it's our job to make sure that it's running and it's creating steel, so that downstream of us can continue rolling and we don't stop them.

Martin Feld  07:44

Excellent! Now maintenance is important but so is safety. What can you say about the safety culture at BlueScope that you've experienced?

Tom Oliphant  07:51

It's fantastic. There's a perfect safety culture. Now, everyone is out here to make sure that we go home safe. Obviously, we've got our PPE, we've got our gloves, we've got our hard hats, we're going to glasses, we've got our cotton-drill clothes, earplugs, and boots and red locks, which are the safest thing you can possibly have when you're working on equipment. They're my personal barrier between that equipment operating and it not operating. And it's it's good because BlueScope's always pushing for more safety and finding new ways that, well, we can't get injured at work, and if we can take away the possibility of an injury, then it's a safer place to work and it's a better place to work.

Martin Feld  08:29

See, I can tell talking to you right now that you're very precise, you're very thorough. Can you please tell us the award that you were recognised with and how that felt to you to receive it?

Tom Oliphant  08:40

So I won the Australian [sic: Apprentice] Employment Network New South Wales and ACT Apprentice of the Year, which is an award for all group-training organisations, which are organisations that employ apprentices and offer them to host employers like BlueScope. So my apprenticeship, I was employed by Zeal and hosted to BlueScope. So, I won the Zeal Futures Apprentice of the Year, which is their completing-apprentices pool. And because I won that, I was available for the AEN Award, and that's all apprentices in group-training organisations are available for that award. And that's New South Wales and ACT. It was awesome to receive it on the night. I was lucky enough that all my family could come, and my partner and the Zeal Futures team could be there with me. It was, it was stressful, but I made myself enjoy it because when I was at the Zeal one, I was, I was terrified all night. I was, like, so nervous. So I went to this one. I was like, *I'm going to enjoy it*. So I was able to enjoy it. And when I won it, I was shocked! There was some really good applicants that were up there on that stage with me. There was eight of us, and I was, I was shocked, and it was awesome. It was an amazing surprise, best feeling ever and getting to celebrate it with my family, Zeal Futures team, was a real privilege and really enjoyable.

Martin Feld  09:57

It's great to be recognised in that way, and that's what we're trying to do right here, right now, today. What other opportunities have you had along the way for maybe extracurricular programs or even competitions? I have heard that you've had opportunities outside of the normal working day.

Tom Oliphant  10:11

Yes, so I was lucky enough that I was able to compete in the machining stream of World Skills. So, World Skills is a competition that happens every two years for apprentices in all trades (or most trades). The fitting and machining there's two, so there's a fitting competition and a machining competition. I competed in the machining competition and it was a really fun experience, really enjoyable. I enjoy machining. We don't do much of it here at my area, but I'm a bit sad about that because it's quite fun. And I was away for the fitting one, which I was sad about because I really would have liked to, to participate in that one. And then, as well as extracurricular, fitting and I know electrical also offer it. You can do a Certificate IV and a diploma as well. So the Certificate IV that I did is in fluids and pneumatics. I did that start of this year, so first six months being a tradesperson, I did my Certificate IV, but during my second and third year, I did my diploma of mechanical engineering in my second and third year. So, that's a two-year course. It was government-subsidised at the time, so I was able to complete that, which I was so happy with because it's a long course, and I was really proud of myself to come away with, come away with my apprenticeship, with my diploma and my trade and then going back and doing my Cert. IV afterwards. And they really improve your skills and knowledge, and it makes it a lot... gives you a lot more ability at the workplace to kind of understand more of what you do every day.

Martin Feld  11:38

So, you've really had the chance to explore things and flourish.

Tom Oliphant  11:41

Yeah.

Martin Feld  11:42

How does it feel now to have your trade, to be finished? What's it like?

Tom Oliphant  11:46

I don't feel any different. I was thinking about this yesterday. I was walking around and I was like, *Man, I'm a tradesperson now!* I was a fourth-year (10?) 10 months ago, and I don't feel any different. It's funny! I thought I'd, I'd feel so different. I'd be like, *Oh yeah, I'm a trades—I'm a trade now!* No it's, you're still the same person trying to just learn every day. You still feel like a fish out of water sometimes. You're always learning. You're never done. So, even even when you finish, it's, it's just the same stuff. You're always trying to learn off the people above you and trying to work with them. Now I've got an apprentice, so it just helps me learn because I got to think about what I'm teaching them.

Martin Feld  12:29

Yeah, I think you make a great point. So, it's a cumulative transformation, but you're still learning all the time.

Tom Oliphant  12:34

Yeah! You go from a fourth-year to, to your trade in one day and nothing changes other than your title. So, throughout your time and in your apprenticeship, you'll be so excited to finish, and then you'll finish and be like, *Ah, ah, it's done*, and you feel the same.

Martin Feld  12:51

You've kind of answered the question in a way already, but is there anything for people who might be considering an apprenticeship with Zeal Futures, coming to work at a place like BlueScope—considering all the things you've said about safety culture and opportunities for learning—what would you say to people who are exploring this place, who might be unsure?

Tom Oliphant  13:06

It's a fantastic opportunity! I'm very proud of the opportunity. I would tell anyone to do it, no matter what trade you're looking for. I'd suggest fitting; there's not enough fitters; there's not enough people wanting to be fitters. But if you want to be an electrician or a fitter, we also emp-... there's also bricklayers, and I would heavily suggest doing an apprenticeship with BlueScope, hosted by Zeal. I've enjoyed my time and I've learnt a lot. You also get to work around other contractors and see contractors as well, which increases your knowledge and you get to meet a whole raft of people and work with a whole different kind of people, and the safety culture is really good. They'll make sure that throughout your entire apprenticeship, you're safe, you're supported. Zeal makes sure you're supported. It's a really good opportunity, and I'd suggest anyone to do it. I've been able to go to a couple of careers expos with BlueScope and Zeal, and it's nice to be able to talk to people who are keen to try. And I've talked to some people who have applied already, and one of them was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship and he's starting next year. And it was really nice to be able to talk to them and support them through the processes in getting an apprenticeship here.

Martin Feld  14:14

Yeah, great to have that interaction.

Tom Oliphant  14:16

Yeah.

Martin Feld  14:16

Speaking of interactions that I heard, I can't let this go. I need to bring it up! Before you spoke to us, you were interviewed (which is quite cool) on ABC Radio, and I was very amused to hear that you were likened to MacGyver. Is that a nickname that we can get to stick?

Tom Oliphant  14:27

It's just fitting! Fitting is 'MacGyvering' stuff. Like, you'll, you'll have a, you'll have something break or you'll need to fix a piece of equipment or just work on it in general. Sometimes you might not have the, the right tool for the job or you might not have the right spare, so you've got to make something. You got, you've got to make something up or you've got to find a new, interesting way to get that job done. It's not always straightforward and that's one of the fun things about fitting. It's, you're not just taking a part off the shelf and putting it on that equipment; you're making parts and you're fitting those parts and you're pulling it apart, and it's breaking when you pull it apart and then you're terrified that you don't have that part. And then you work it out, and you always work it out. In every job I've done, there's always some there's some points where you go, *We're not working this thing out, this has beaten us today.* And then you work it out! No, no breakdown or piece of equipment has ever beaten a fitter. They always work it out!

Martin Feld  15:26

We thank Tom for sharing his time with us so generously on the day and congratulate him on his achievements. To learn more about Tom's experience, see some of the places that he mentioned or gain further insight into what it's like to be an apprentice with us, please visit the linked articles and TVBlueScope videos in this episode's show notes. You'll also find a shorter video version of Tom's interview, which is accompanied by overlay footage of him working at the CPCM. Thank you for listening to this episode of Voices of BlueScope, and we'll catch you next time!