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It’s been a dramatic end to the week at businessman-turned-politician Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery near Townsville. Picture: Kym Smith
A FEDERAL MP has blasted “piss-poor†management at Clive Palmer’s ailing nickel refinery as confusion lingers over whether 550 workers will keep their jobs.
Those workers are facing a weekend of stress and uncertainty after they were told on Thursday their positions would be axed from Mr Palmer’s Queensland Nickel refinery at Yabulu, north of Townsville.
Yesterday, Mr Palmer vowed to rehire the workers if his new company Queensland Nickel Sales — which recently took back the reins of the refinery from administrators — was able to secure the necessary state government issued to continue operating.
But the facility is yet to obtain all relevant licences. Late on Friday it was issued an enforcement notice by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
The department demanded action and evidence to ensure the environment was protected.
Herbert MP Ewen Jones, whose electorate covers Townsville, called on Mr Palmer today to definitively say whether all workers’ wages and entitlements would be safe.
“The longer this goes, the more you think that something may not happen,†he told Macquarie Radio.
Herbert MP Ewen Jones wants answers as 550 jobs remain in limbo.Source:News Corp Australia
Mr Jones said management should have planned for harder financial times because nickel was a “boom and bust†industry linked to steel.
“This has happened before and Townsville has never noticed a glitch or anything because management has been prepared,†he said.
“This has been borderline malfeasance by directors from the casual observer.
“This has been piss-poor management.â€
The refinery’s environmental authority was transferred to Queensland Nickel Sales on Friday after a fast-tracked approval process.
A spokesman for the company told AAP about 20 authorisation hurdles, understood to relate to workplace health and safety, had to be cleared before the refinery could reopen.
Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace said the firm was asked on two occasions to provide information needed for the transfer of a major hazard license, and approval should take around 24 hours once the information was provided.
Workers leave the Queensland Nickel refinery at Yabulu near Townsville on Friday, not knowing if they’ll be back. Picture: AAP Image/Andrew RankinSource:AAP
In an email sent to workers, Mr Palmer’s nephew and company director Clive Mensink did not indicate when people would be asked if they’d like to return to the refinery.
Yesterday, a Townsville-based economist told news.com.au the job loss of 550 workers would cause the city’s already dire unemployment rate to further skyrocket.
“We will have to see what happens, but if 550 people were to lose their jobs in Townsville overnight, it would add about half a per cent to the local unemployment rate, and that’s obviously a concern but especially because unemployment in Townsville is already significantly above the nationwide average,†Dr Welters said.
He said the struggles at Queensland Nickel were not a surprise given the global downturn in the minerals market.
Townsville’s mayor Jenny Hill called the loss of 550 jobs from the Yabulu refinery “worse than a Shakespearean tragedyâ€.
“These are real people we’re dealing with here whose lives and livelihoods are heavily affected by the actions and decisions made by a handful of people,†she said on Friday.