Wellington Shire pushes for state government support for 73 mill workers who lost their jobs

Wellington Shire fights for state support after workers were "completely blindsided" by a mill closure that hit harder than the native timber shutdown.

A Gippsland council area rocked by two major jobs blows in less than a fortnight has mounted a push for state government financial support for one of the affected parties.

The loss of 73 jobs from a softwood mill closure at Yarram was followed soon after by job losses at a Maffra farm leased by Australian herb and salad grower Dicky Bill, which went into voluntary administration.

In a move instigated by Yarram-based councillor Garry Stephens, Wellington Shire this week agreed to approach the state government about extending the Victorian Foresty Worker Support Program to employees who lost their jobs at Yarram’s AKD mill.

It was set up in the wake of the native timber industry shutdown and is still open until June next year.

“It would be completely seamless and appropriate for the fund to be made available to support our workers suffering from the softwood mill closure,” Cr Stephens said.

“They were completely blindsided by the closure and had no idea what was happening until they were called to a meeting.

“It’s devastating and totally unexpected what has happened.

“Some of the people affected have been offered the opportunity to redeploy to one of their other mills.

“AKD is going to honour all the workers’ entitlements so we’ve got no issues there.

“But every job in a small community like ours is a bonus.”

A move is underway to provide the 73 workers who lost their jobs at a Yarram softwood mill with some government support funding.

The program includes funding for one-to-one assistance, funded training up to $8000, health and wellbeing support and financial counselling.

Yarram’s hardwood mill, Radial Timber, has survived the shutdown by sourcing timber from interstate ahead of its own plantations coming online in 2030.

“To be honest this softwood mill closure has had more impact on us than the native timber closure,” Cr Stephens said.

Meanwhile, Warakirri Asset Management, which owns the two farms at Maffra and Bundaberg which were leased to Dicky Bill, said arrangements with potential new operating partners were “well progressed” in a move that could lead to the reinstatement of “many of the lost jobs”.