Kaitāia a 'victim of bad timing' amid potential closure of mill - Far North mayor

The Far North mayor says the potential closure of another Kaitāia mill alongside the recent election means the town was a "victim of bad timing".

The town's Triboard Mill, owned by Japanese forestry company Juken New Zealand, has been on the market since March.

On Wednesday, it said a buyer willing to take on the current workers could not be found, putting more than 150 jobs at risk.

Far North mayor Moko Tepania said this would have a significant impact as it meant 160 jobs could be gone on top of the 60 jobs lost from the closure of Northland Mill in August.

The two mills were the town's biggest employer after Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand.

Tepania told Morning Report the council had been part of different conversations throughout the year and Juken New Zealand had kept them in the loop throughout.

"This is just what's happened for them. And so they've been trying to work through things ... what I don't want within all of this is for this to become a story about the Far North losing another industry, because the Far North is beautiful. We have the resources, we have skilled people and we have opportunity."

He understood the government had been considering stepping in as a loner or a backer to around $25 million to $30m, but with the elections underway it had been "bad timing".

"I believe a regional infrastructure fund application had gone through to help support the ongoing sustainability of our tribal mill up in Kaitāia and ministers just didn't want to make a decision too close to an election.

"And more than anything right now, we need certainty, which is really hard when our whole nation is a little bit uncertain with who the Government's going to be."

Tepania was hoping to bring people together and help find some solutions for the region's wider forestry industry.

He urged the caretaker government to take steps that may help despite the political uncertainty.

"Can we get ministers that previously held these responsibilities to make some decisions? Is it a part of a wider kōrero in a caretaker Government where we need opposition support for bigger decisions?

"Whatever it is, whatever that solution looks like, we are definitely going to be backing what it could be because it means so much for all of us up here in the finals."

Juken NZ executive director Yasufumi Tsuchiya said on Wednesday negotiations to sell the land, buildings and machinery were continuing with a potential buyer, who could restart the mill in future with a new workforce.

If the sale fell through the mill would be closed down and efforts to sell the land and assets would continue.

According to Workers First Union, the Kaitāia mills are the seventh and eighth wood-processing plants to close around the country in the past two years.

Other mills to have closed include the paper production line at Kinleith Mill in Tokoroa (with the loss of 230 jobs), Eves Valley Sawmill in Tasman (140 jobs), and Karioi Pulpmill and Tangiwai Sawmill in Ruapehu (200 jobs).

Workers First Union organiser Marcus Coverdale said there was a sense of shock among the workers when he visited the mill on Wednesday morning.

"We were hoping that the offer wasn't going to be an asset sale only, and it was going to include the workforce," he said.

Coverdale said there was still hope a sale would go ahead.

"The word around the campfire is the buyer wants a bit of time to get to know the mill operation processes or to have a bit of a clean-out and then consider re-employing people. So they intend to reopen it and employ the local workforce in Kaitāia."

He said Juken New Zealand would announce its decision on 1 December.