Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester says he has been assured that AKD Yarram Sawmill workers will receive their full entitlements and additional assistance to manage last week’s shock announcement of major job losses.
Mr Chester said he had met with a senior executive to push the case for the 73 workers and their families.
“During the meeting, I expressed disappointment on behalf of the community and I received several assurances that gave me some comfort that employees will be looked after financially despite the devastating loss of employment, less than six weeks before Christmas,” Mr Chester said.
“The company said all staff would be paid for two weeks leave after the closure announcement and receive their full pay and redundancy entitlements, along with free access to financial counselling and mental health support.
“There will also be opportunities for workers who are able to relocate to AKD sites in Colac, Tumut, Oberon and Caboolture, along with the potential for other Gippsland sawmills to engage skilled workers.
“I accepted the company’s commitment to put the wellbeing of staff first and their regret that financial circumstances and deteriorating market conditions had led to the difficult decision to close the Yarram sawmill.”
Mr Chester said the sawmill closure was a result of a series of issues, including the Victorian Labor Party’s decision to abolish the native hardwood timber industry.
“That illogical decision to ban native timber harvesting has set off a cascading effect across the broader Gippsland region,” Mr Chester said.
“We are continuing to see the downstream impacts of the native timber industry closure, with job losses in several towns, along with the closure of paper production at the Maryvale Paper Mill, leading to less demand for wood chips, and the AKD Yarram sawmill has been caught in the backwash.
“We now have the bizarre situation where Australia is not building enough houses to meet a growing population, but a local sawmill is closing because there’s a downturn in the housing market, construction and compliance costs are killing investment, our energy prices make manufacturing uncompetitive and cheap imports are displacing locally-made timber products.
“The Labor Party at state and federal level is culpable for the job losses in regional areas, and all we are seeing is more taxes, which makes Victorian manufacturing even less competitive.
“The workers in Yarram and their families are having their lives turned upside down because government policy is failing our traditional jobs in regional areas.
“The closure of the AKD Yarram Sawmill is no reflection on the workers or the people of Yarram, who deserve additional government support to help the community recover from this significant social and economic shock.”
