Clive Palmer promises to rehire sacked workers amid fears for struggling Townsville

UPDATE: Clive Palmer’s embattled nickel refinery has received environmental approval to reopen, paving the way for 550 workers to be rehired.

Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union state secretary Rohan Webb addresses the media after staff were told their jobs were on the line on Thursday. Picture: Shae Beplate

CLIVE Palmer’s embattled nickel refinery has received environmental approval to reopen, paving the way for 550 workers to be rehired.

The Queensland government has transferred the environmental authority for the Yabulu nickel refinery in Townsville to Clive Palmer’s new company.

But business still needs a Major Hazards License from the industrial relations department to finally be able to operate.

Mr Palmer took back control of the Townville refinery’s operations from administrators on Monday but needed to prove his new company, Queensland Nickel Sales Pty Ltd, was a suitable operator to hold the authority before he could run the plant.

Environment Minister Steve Miles said the application was approved about 11.30am today.

The mining magnate vowed to re-employ workers facing the axe, amid concerns their sacking would cause the city’s high unemployment rate to further skyrocket.

EARLIER: The workers were told last night their jobs were in doubt as Mr Palmer’s company Queensland Nickel Sales Pty Ltd — which took over the reins of the refinery from administrators earlier this week — didn’t have the necessary licence to continue operating the plant.

But this morning, as those workers faced the prospect of being left jobless once they clocked off from work at 5pm today, Mr Palmer offered a surprising lifeline by promising to rehire them if the necessary licence was granted.

“We will be sending a letter to workers at noon (Friday) to update them on the whole situation,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

“But in the event it’s decided to bring the workforce back, it will be at the 550 level, not a lower level.”

Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles has criticised Mr Palmer for leaving it until Wednesday to step in, but said he has requested his department to act on the licence application as quickly as possible.

Mr Palmer’s Queensland Nickel (QNI) nickel refinery is the largest private employer in Townsville.

Townsville-based economist Associate Professor Riccardo Welters from James Cook University told news.com.au if the workers were unable to be rehired, the impact on the town would be devastating.

Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union state secretary Rohan Webb addresses the media after staff were told their jobs were on the line on Thursday. Picture: Shae Beplate

“We will have to see what happens, but if 550 people were to lose their jobs in Townsville overnight, it would add about half a per cent to the local unemployment rate, and that’s obviously a concern but especially because unemployment in Townsville is already significantly above the nationwide average,” Dr Welters said.

Townsville’s current unemployment rate of 10.1 per cent is significantly above the national rate of 6.5 per cent.

“I think the impacts on the Townsville economy would be larger than just the 550 job losses,” Dr Welters added.

“It would also mean that wage income would disappear from the local economy, which means less consumer expenditure in the town’s economy, which will hurt local businesses and may lead to further job losses.

“If those 550 people lose their jobs it’s unlikely that’s where it would stop — there might be some hidden job losses as well because that expenditure is gone.”

Dr Welters said the current struggles of Mr Palmer’s nickel empire was not surprising given the wider global downturn in the minerals market.

Queensland Nickel workers leave the site at Yabulu as their future remains uncertain. Picture: Zak Simmonds

While he said Townsville’s strong education, defence and healthcare sectors would help keep the city afloat, he warned it would be very difficult for any sacked workers to find local work.

In January, 237 jobs were culled from the Yabulu refinery as QNI went into administration with debts of about $100 million.

Townsville’s mayor Jenny Hill called the loss of the remaining 550 jobs “worse than a Shakespearean tragedy”.

“These are real people we’re dealing with here whose lives and livelihoods are heavily affected by the actions and decisions made by a handful of people,” she told the ABC.

Ms Hill compared the uncertain future at QNI to the catastrophic collapse of the car-making industry in South Australia and called for the federal government to help sacked workers.

“I’ve had people say to me it’s as bad as what’s been happening in Adelaide,” she said.

“I would say to you that we are in the same position, and I really now want the Government to move in and support us with a similar package as they’ve done in South Australia.

“If you want to grow north Queensland, if you want to grow northern Australia, you need to put your money where your mouth is.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has also called for the federal government to abandon its “right-wing economic textbook” and stop a catastrophe from unfolding in Townsville.

The government has so far pledged more than $2 million towards a support package for sacked workers.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten, in Townsville on Friday, said the federal government needed to do more to assist sacked workers. Picture: Mark Calleja

Mr Shorten said the government should allow sacked workers to access its entitlement scheme immediately, rather than wait for Queensland Nickel to first be liquidated.

“When you’ve got people who’ve paid taxes their whole adult working life, need some help from the government for once, this is not the time for the government to get out a right-wing economic textbook and read out that: ‘Sorry, we can’t help you’,” Mr Shorten told ABC radio.

“The consequences of 550 people losing their jobs today, on top of 250 a few weeks ago and the nearly 1600 other people who indirectly derive a living from QNI, the consequences are simply catastrophic for Townsville.”

Yabulu crew co-ordinator Darran Morris, a father-of-two who has worked at the refinery for seven years, was one of more than 500 staff provisionally stood down.

He estim­ates he is owed about $60,000 in entitlements and unpaid leave.

“I wasn’t expecting it today, but I was thinking it was inevit­able,” Mr Morris told The Australian.

“Every other business he (Clive Palmer) has run — the A-League team, the Coolum Resort, Palmer Aviation — has sunk. Everything he touches he destroy­s. But unlike us, he makes money from it.”