“Made in Australia” was the three-word slogan on Mr Shorten’s lips as he joined Labor's byelection candidate, Paul Scully, at Unanderra’s Leussink Engineering.

The Opposition Leader toured the engineering firm’s operations and met with employees, before fronting the media.

“I’m here today because the Leussink family, and the workforce here, deserve a government in Canberra who will stand up for jobs,” Mr Shorten said.

“What we need in this country is a renewed commitment to Australian manufacturing. What we need in this country is just one three-word slogan: Made in Australia.”

However, Mr Shorten didn’t go as far as to say he would consider a federal steel bill – similar to the Labor and Greens’ co-sponsored Steel Industry Protection Bill currently before the NSW Parliament.

Prior to the July federal election, Mr Shorten revealed his party’s six-point plan for the steel industry – including that a Labor government would “maximise Australian steel in Australian projects”.

The Opposition Leader stopped short of setting minimum use targets at the time and remained non-committal on Friday.

“You’ll find, at the last election, only Labor had a plan for metal manufacturing, only Labor had a plan to stand up for the steel industry and, in fact, since the election, I’ve been standing up for the future of Arrium and OneSteel,” Mr Shorten said.

“OneSteel has been a major operator and employer of jobs in the Illawarra.” 

With the November 12 byelection just two weeks away, the Mercury questioned Mr Shorten as to why Wollongong voters should view his visit as anything more than a photo opportunity.

“Every day this week I’ve been in a different factory or talking to different groups of investors,” he said.

“I understand that the Illawarra at the national level has traditionally been more supportive of Labor, but I’m a Labor leader who believes in looking after your base – looking after blue-collar workers, looking after metal manufacturing employers.

“There are real challenges of change in the Illawarra; we’ve got to make sure we preserve blue-collar engineering jobs, design jobs. These are very important jobs.

“Paul Scully is the candidate with the best credentials to stand up for blue-collar jobs in the Illawarra. Luke Foley is the best potential for NSW to have proper local procurement policy.”