Green Triangle timber mills receives specialist industry exception to continue production during lockdown

SA Health has granted South Australia’s timber mills a special industry exemption, as at least two major producers shutdown under essential worker status confusion.

The Green Triangle’s timber mills and forests have been issued a specialist industry exemption to continue operations during South Australia’s seven day lockdown.

During Wednesday’s press conference Premier Steven Marshall said he “believed” timber mills could open under the current directions with South Australian Forest Products Association chief executive Nathan Paine receiving written confirmation minutes later.

South Australian Forest Products Association chief executive Nathan Paine. Picture: Supplied

Mr Paine said the association had lobbied the state government for clarification and said news from the SA Health Exception Board showed it understood the importance of the industry.

“That is absolutely welcomed news,” Mr Paine said.

“It’s welcomed news for the mills, the workers in those mills, the regional communities and in particular, all of the many essential customers that rely on products that the mills produce such as pallets for moving groceries and food.”

Mr Paine said the frustration since the beginnig of the lockdown mirrored the feelings during November’s circuit breaker when it took time to secure necessary exemptions.

“As an industry many of the worker are operating in relative isolation and it is a little bit frustrating that it has taken 24 hours to get that recognised but these are challenging times and the government has to react quickly and they’re not always going to get it right the first time,” he said.

Mr Paine said a number of South East mills including OneFortyOne and Timberlink had shutdown on Wednesday and but would now be confident to reopen.

“Each mill made their own decision, based upon their own interpretation of the essential workers lists,” he said.

“Some continue to operate and some made the decision to shutdown.

“I’m hoping to see that every one of those mills is now provided with a similar exemption, so they can get their workers back into the facilities and start processing some timber.

“I would expect that we’ll see the mills up and running tomorrow.

“Particularly for the two big mills at Jubilee and Tarpeena they take time to start back up.”

On Tuesday afternoon, industry leaders were unsure if up to ten mills would be forced to close at a cost of almost $4m a day.

It raised concerns the Green Triangle would be cut down the middle with SA mills and forests grinding to a standstill while work continued on the Victorian side of the border.

While it only gained clarity Tuesday evening maintaining tree health, harvesting and up to 150 seasonal workers could continue planting millions of trees under a primary industry exemption.

Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub chair Ian McDonnell questioned why the industry had not been included as essential workers.

“Every state has recognised forestry and the timber sector as an essential service in recent lockdowns, largely because of the isolated nature of the work,” he said.

Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub chair Ian McDonnell. Picture: Tait Schmaal

“The South East is the powerhouse of Australia’s timber sector and a seven day shutdown will have national ramifications.

“Our mills supply the fibre that creates the toilet paper, the masks for PPE, pallets that deliver our food, sawdust to support the animal welfare in our poultry sector and importantly deliver the bulk of structural timber to sustain the already stretched construction sector.”

The Green Triangle indirectly employs 18,000 worker across the region and Mr McDonnell said it had worked to create a strict risk mitigation plan which was accepted by the state government 12 months ago.

“When it comes time to implement that plan its ignored,” he said.

“A one week cut off will be diabolical and will bring some businesses to breaking point.”

The news, renewed the industry’s call for a cross border commissioner – an issue it raised in a roundtable discussion with Premier Steven Marshall when he visited the region in April.

“It’s time we had a cross border commissioner at the table, acting as our regional voice in these critical decision making meetings to ensure our region is not forgotten.

“As a community we understand the importance of what the government is trying to achieve but they must work more closely with industry and communities to implement these policies to work around Covid while it is in our state.”

One in three Mount Gambier residents are employed in forestry and MP Troy Bell echoed the industry’s demand for border representation.

Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell called for regional SA to be allowed to resume business as usual. Picture: Supplied Troy Bell

“Since the pandemic first began, I have been strongly advocating for regional representation on the Covid-19 Transition Committee and most importantly, for the appointment of a Cross Border Commissioner, however it’s clear our state government does not grasp the importance of this role,” Mr Bell said.

“There are thousands of people who live in South Australia’s border communities and they are just as important as the people who live in metropolitan Adelaide.

Kimberly Clark Australia confirmed its Millicent Mill would continuing to operate as normal with Covid-19 precautions in place to protect staff.