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Speaker 1: Tokoa Right, the owner of the Kanneath mill at Tokaroa,

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Speaker 1: has confirmed plans to permanently end paper production from June.

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Speaker 1: About two hundred and thirty factory workers will then lose

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Speaker 1: their jobs. Og Fiber Solutions says it will transition the

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Speaker 1: mill to focusing just on pulp, no more paper, and

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Speaker 1: it will move to a paper import model for its

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Speaker 1: packaging operation. So Gary Pittley from the Southwakado, he is

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Speaker 1: the South Southway Katto District mayor joins you. Now, Hello, Gary, Andrew,

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Speaker 1: how are you? Matt good? How are you sad day?

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Speaker 2: He is? Said day sad day?

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Speaker 1: Okay? So is this the end of it all? Or

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Speaker 1: is there any room to save any other jobs before June?

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Speaker 2: What of from one of the people I've spoken to, Andrew,

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Speaker 2: I think they'll continue to ask the options available throughout

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Speaker 2: that whole exercise, and it could It may not just

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Speaker 2: be those that are directly affected. There may be some

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Speaker 2: job swaps that have been put to the to og

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Speaker 2: Og Solutions and that wouldn't They don't want to tell

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Speaker 2: somebody who's been there for quite an long period of

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Speaker 2: time opting for redundancy but doing a job swap with

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Speaker 2: an affected worker. So those options have to be looked at,

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Speaker 2: and we're just to see where they land. And they've

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Speaker 2: got till June and before they make that song.

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Speaker 1: Other thin other than making the decision you hate, do

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Speaker 1: OG five seem like good people.

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Speaker 2: I was probably alerted question Andrew, But you know, I

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Speaker 2: get from my perspective, and I come from twenty one

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Speaker 2: years having worked there and left there under the redundancy

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Speaker 2: model in nineteen ninety eight, so I was, but then

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Speaker 2: the situation was different then because it was my decision

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Speaker 2: to go there and my wife and I wanted to

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Speaker 2: pursue other options out in the field.

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Speaker 1: Let's go back to your new job. You are the mayor.

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Speaker 1: This is going to have a huge impact impact on

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Speaker 1: the town. And we were talking to a boat before

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Speaker 1: who said, yeah, sure, there's two hundred odd jobs that

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Speaker 1: are going, but it's actually all the contractors who who

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Speaker 1: are part of it, or it could be more like

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Speaker 1: a thousand. And then for every job that you lose,

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Speaker 1: that affects three other jobs. And the problem with Talker

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Speaker 1: Raw is that you were too dependent on one industry.

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Speaker 1: So so how big is this impact going to be

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Speaker 1: and is it survivable?

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Speaker 2: It's it's huge. It's huge because, as you alluded to,

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Speaker 2: those two hundred and thirty workers, and it's to support

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Speaker 2: wrap around service from contractors that add up and truck

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Speaker 2: drivers and transport deliveries and carriers that add up to

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Speaker 2: that that will add up to their total. Is it survivable? Yes,

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Speaker 2: I think it is, and I believe that the council

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Speaker 2: have been working on initiatives to to get new business

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Speaker 2: into town. And we've got a industrial park that we're

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Speaker 2: developing now in twelve of the thirteen sites have been

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Speaker 2: sold already that's being developed that will create about two

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Speaker 2: hundred to three hundred jobs. The Ofi or Ofi Dairy factory,

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Speaker 2: the new one on the south side of town, is

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Speaker 2: looking at signing off on phase two of their development,

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Speaker 2: so that will create more jobs.

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Speaker 1: I suppose this is a warning mate to all the

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Speaker 1: towns in New Zealand that are dependent on one employer

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Speaker 1: that you can never diversify your employment base enough and

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Speaker 1: that you must always work on it, you know, to

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Speaker 1: get safeguard against the rainy day that's coming.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think the reality around that, Andrew, is that

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Speaker 2: everybody gets comfortable in their own in their own space,

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Speaker 2: and I guess where we should have been looking more

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Speaker 2: in my view when redundancies first started happening, when we

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Speaker 2: went from a four thousand and four thousand and four

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Speaker 2: and a half thousand workforce four hundred, and that will

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Speaker 2: suggest that discussion has sort of been on alternative employment

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Speaker 2: or getting new business into town.

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Speaker 1: Okay, we wish you all the best of luck and everybody.

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Speaker 1: And Tocora is a lovely town. You've got a great

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Speaker 1: forest right there, You're close to the lakes for recreation,

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Speaker 1: and it's close to going skiing as well, if if,

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Speaker 1: if the snow ever arrives. And I just want to

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Speaker 1: wish you and all the people of Tokoro and Southware

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Speaker 1: all the best of luck, and I thank you for

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Speaker 1: your time. Gary, Thank you very much, Andrew Gary Pitley.

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Speaker 1: He is the South White Kato District mayor.

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