PHILIP HOPKINS
By PHILIP HOPKINS
ANOTHER 14 workers at Opal Australia Paper’s Maryvale Mill are set to be temporarily stood down today (Wednesday, January 17), as a result of a lack of hardwood fibre for the mill’s white copy paper production. The stand-down of the 14 workers from the de-inking production team follows the stand-down of 35 workers from the direct production M5 team from January 1. The M5 machine produces white paper. A spokesman for Opal said no decisions around further stand-downs had been made at this stage. “Until mid-February, Opal team members who may be stood down will receive full pay,” he said. This outcome was a result of talks with the state government and unions. “This is intended to provide certainty for Opal team members while the company and the Victorian government progress discussions on any further support for the mill’s future operations.” The Maryvale mill, with more than 800 workers, is the Latrobe Valley’s biggest employer, ran out of hardwood fibre to make white sheets of paper on December 23. The lack of fibre is a result of a Supreme Court decision in November, which found that VicForests was not doing enough to protect two species – greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders. As a result, VicForests was ordered to scale back its timber harvesting in the state’s native forest. The state government body supplies hardwood pulpwood to the Maryvale Mill for white paper production. VicForests has appealed against the Supreme Court decision. A hearing is expected in March. The Opal spokesman said AP had been working to address the current shortfall in VicForests’ supply. “To be viable, the alternative supplies must match a range of strict criteria, including species, availability, volume, cost, logistics and long-term supply,” he said. “To date we have been unable to identify viable alternative sources of wood.” In addition to Opal’s employee assistance program, the state government has set up a worker support service. The Opal spokesman said this service would help workers “affected by potential stand-downs and operational changes as may be required as a consequence of a possible future scaling-down of white side manufacturing, one scenario currently being considered”. “Opal continues to consider a number of different operational scenarios for the longer term, in case possible alternative wood sources are below the volumes required or are not commercially feasible,” he said. “This is a complex situation and no longer-term decisions on operational changes have been made at this stage. While the current situation is difficult for everyone, Opal remains committed to keeping our team members, customers and key stakeholders updated on further developments.” Given the supply shortfall from VicForests, Opal has been using plantation eucalypt volumes to produce packaging papers. Proportions of fibre inputs differ across the packaging range, which includes bag paper, sack paper, liner board, fluting medium and industrial papers. Opal’s 2022 Sustainability Report noted that Opal was committed to the long-term transition of its Maryvale operation to 100 per cent plantation wood and recycled fibre. About 18 per cent is supplied from state native forests and four per cent from hardwood sawmill residues. Maryvale has been losing pulpwood supply from state forests for more than a decade. Under the government’s 1996 agreement with AP, it was obliged to supply about one third (a minimum of 350,000 cubic metres) of the pulp for Maryvale’s manufacturing of copy paper, with two-thirds coming from hardwood plantations. This agreement expires in 2030, when native forestry is scheduled to end under the state government’s forestry plan. In the interim, large bushfires, resource cutbacks and litigation from environmental groups have severely curtailed pulpwood supply to Maryvale. The government acknowledged in parliament last year that after the 2009 bushfires, government supply of pulpwood from mountain and alpine ash fell to 265,000 cubic metres. This further fell to now just 50,000 cubic metres of mixed species pulpwood under the agreement. In June 2020, the agreement was varied to allow silvertop ash to be substituted for mountain forest pulp log. Silvertop ash is classified as ‘mixed species’ timber. The government said the variation provided for up to 40,000 cubic metres of mountain forest pulpwood to be substituted with silvertop ash from 2019-21 and 2023-24 inclusive. Other causes in the agreement also allow variations. Green groups in recent years have strongly criticised AP’s use of native timber for copy paper production, and have put pressure on retail outlets not to stock it. In the interim, AP has been strengthening its packaging division to take advantage of the growth in parcels as online retailing continues to grow as a percentage of retail sales. At the same time, copy paper is under long-term threat from the use of information sent increasingly via the internet.
