The Shoalhaven Paper mill, paper supplier for Australian passports and birth certificates, has confirmed it will close this year with the loss of 75 jobs. Australian Paper says its decision to close the Bomaderry plant in New South Wales south coast is due to financial losses over several years. Peter Williams Australian Paper chief operating officer says decline in demand for the specialty products has made the viability of running a profitable business impossible. Williams says despite the ‘best efforts and ongoing support of our people at Shoalhaven over a number of years to remain competitive, the market for specialty and security papers such as cheque and watermark papers has continued to experience a significant and sustained drop in demand’.
He says, “This situation has left us with no choice but to close the Shoalhaven facility which will result in the loss of 75 jobs. The exact timing of the closure is yet to be finalised but production will cease during 2015.” While the news of the closure will be difficult for the employees of the mill, manager Bruce Borchardt last year warned of the possible closure citing lower demand and cheap overseas competition. Borchardt said the mill’s production had slumped from 70,000 tonnes a year on three machines in 2006 to about 12,000 on one machine, and that shifts had been cut from five to three in the past two years at the cost of 30 jobs. The mill which has been operating since 1956 employed 600 people at its peak, and has been the manufacturer of Australia’s passport paper for more than 30 years. Williams says the exact date of the mill’s closure is not yet determined, however, it seems likely to be after its passport paper contract with the federal government ends in July. He says, “We understand this decision will be difficult for employees at Shoalhaven who have witnessed machine closures at the site in recent times as market conditions have deteriorated. We greatly appreciate their sustained hard work and commitment over many years”. CFMEU secretary for Pulp & Paper Workers District, Alex Millar, says the closure of the mill could have been avoided had the Abbott Government listened to the Shoalhaven community, the mill workers and the local MP. Millar says , “They weren’t asking for a handout or injection of cash, simply a change in the government’s purchasing arrangements to buy more paper supplied by the mill, and less from overseas”. “In a period of increased risk of passport fraud and threats to cyber security, it beggars belief that the Federal Government could not move to protect Australians’ identity security and passport integrity.” However, the Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane argues that while the mill closure is a blow to the local community, it was closing due to ‘market conditions’.
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