Maryvale paper workers used a visit by Nationals Deputy Leader and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce to demand he support local jobs by ensuring his department replace its use of overseas imports with Australian-made photocopy paper. Source: Timberbiz
Mr Joyce was visiting the Maryvale mill in Gippsland, Victoria accompanied by National Party colleague and local MP Darren Chester.
The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union said the mill, the future of which is under threat from imports, employs 1000 people and is the region’s largest private sector employer.
The union is calling on the Agriculture Minister to follow the lead of Mr Chester, who in his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Defence has given assurances that his department procures Australian-made copy paper.
Analysis conducted by the CFMEU has revealed that only six of 22 federal government departments source Australian-made copy paper, despite it being competitive on cost, environmentally friendly and key to supporting jobs in regional Australia.
CFMEU Pulp and Paper Workers District national secretary Alex Millar welcomed the ongoing support of Mr Chester, saying his commitment to using Australian-made paper in the Defence Department had been a great result for local workers.
“Darren Chester’s ongoing advocacy for jobs at the mill is a credit to him, but we need other government ministers and their departments to help save the Maryvale mill and the vital jobs it provides,” Mr Millar said.
“Minister Joyce’s department currently buys its copy paper from Germany, which is why workers at the mill will today make the case to him that he should switch to Australian-made.”
“As part of that Senate inquiry the CFMEU has argued that the government should buy more Australian-made paper and use less imported paper,” he said.
The union is also awaiting the Anti-Dumping Commission’s findings into the alleged dumping of 70,000 tonnes of copy paper from China per annum — a volume which represents nearly a third of the domestic market.
The Commission has indicated that its Final Recommendation to the Parliamentary Secretary is due no later than August 8, 2014.
