Gas appliance manufacturer to axe 125 jobs on Victorian border

Gas appliance manufacturer Jon Seeley says Victoria is ‘using taxpayers’ money to pay consumers to replace Australian-made gas heaters with imported reverse cycle systems’.

Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Australia’s largest gas heating manufacturer will close its Albury factory by December next year, saying the Victorian government’s “inexcusable anti-gas ­obsession” is partly to blame.

Seeley International’s decision to shift approximately 85 permanent and 40 casual jobs from the Victorian-NSW border to Adelaide came a day after South ­Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas took a swipe at his eastern neighbour, saying that unlike the Allan government, his Labor government believes gas “has a role to play” in the energy transition.

Seeley’s Albury facility is the base for its gas heating manufacturing business, and had been ­located on the border to give the company easy access to both the Victorian and NSW markets.

Managing director Jon Seeley said the Allan government’s decision to ban gas connections in new homes from January 1 this year had created “enormous volatility” in demand.

The company has decided to consolidate its operations at its SA headquarters, where it recently announced it would create 100 jobs off the back of a $5m deal with the state government, which will help it push its Climate Wizard air conditioners into the US market.

“The consolidation of our Australian manufacturing operations is a difficult but necessary decision to ensure the economic sustainability of our business,” Mr Seeley said. “The accelerated disruption to our industry caused by the Victorian government’s inexcusable anti-gas obsession, and using taxpayers’ money to pay consumers to replace Australian-made gas heaters with imported reverse-cycle systems, is extremely ­detrimental.

Seeley International Group Managing Director Jon Seeley at the company’s Lonsdale factory in Adelaide. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

“We believe in the importance of gas in the clean energy transition and recognise the need to plot a sensible path away from fossil fuels, including natural gas. But a premature exit from gas, without viable alternatives and credible ­solutions, is entirely reckless and will end up costing consumers the most.”

Mr Seeley said the problem had been “compounded” by the federal government’s “extreme and oppressive” impending industrial relations changes, because his business relied on being able to employ casual workers during winter peaks in Albury, and summer peaks in Adelaide.

“As a result, it is no longer ­viable to have summer and winter seasonal peaks in two different ­locations with different work­forces,’’ he said.

“The company remains strong and continues to drive innovation and product development in the clean energy transition from its Adelaide base.”

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Mr Malinauskas told Adelaide radio 5AA on Monday that “gas has a role to play” in his state’s transition to net-zero carbon emissions.

“In other states, you know ­Victoria has banned gas ­connections to new homes,” the Premier said.

“All right, but when someone turns on a reverse-cycle air conditioner, and the source of that power is still dirty coal generation, then how is that better than ­having gas?”

Liberal MP Bill Tilley said about half of the families impacted by the Seeley job losses lived in Wodonga, in his northeast Victorian electorate of Benambra.

“This is 125 people who are about to lose their job,” he said.

“At a time when family budgets are stretched to the limit, this Labor government continues to find new ways to make our lives harder.”

A spokeswoman for Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said: “As gas prices continue to climb, we’re helping households access cheaper and more efficient electrical appliances – saving them around $1000 every year.

“Electric appliances use less energy to produce the same amount of heat – so even though the grid is not 100 per cent renewables yet – there are still less emissions from an electric appliance.”