The Hodgman Liberal Government’s number one priority is jobs.

Through the actions we have taken with our major industrials Bell Bay Aluminium and Nyrstar in the past three months, we have secured more than 5,000 Tasmanian jobs.

The agreement with Nyrstar announced last month secures 600 direct jobs at the smelter as well as another 3,500 indirect jobs that are dependent on Nyrstar.

Nyrstar is a vital part of Tasmania’s economy, contributing around $800 million towards Tasmania’s Gross State Product and 24 per cent of Tasmania’s total export value. Every year, Nyrstar pumps around $70 million into the Hobart economy through wages paid to employees and contractors.

Not only does this agreement secure Nyrstar’s future in Tasmania, it also unlocks a $52 million investment that will expand Nyrstar’s capacity, which in turn will create an additional 125 jobs during the construction phase alone and up to 20 new jobs at the smelter once the upgrades are complete.

There is no cash component provided by Government to facilitate this additional investment. Under the agreement, Nyrstar will borrow $29 million from the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation and the Government will provide a guarantee to EFIC in respect of that loan. The guarantee will be in place until February 2019.

Nyrstar required the support of the Government to proceed with the full package of smelter transformation projects. The arrangements were carefully assessed and recommended for approval by the Tasmanian Development Board as being of special significance to Tasmanian economy.

This is the latest agreement struck by the Government to secure jobs and follows a recent agreement struck with Bell Bay Aluminium to secure the future of 1,500 direct and indirect jobs in the North.

This agreement increases the amount of power supplied to the smelter by around 10 per cent, allowing Bell Bay Aluminium to increase productivity and production. This paves the way for a parallel $30 million capital investment program by the company, around half of which will be spent with local suppliers and contractors, creating business and job opportunities for Northern Tasmania.

Both of these commitments are a vote of confidence in the Tasmanian economy and shows that industry and manufacturing have a strong future in Tasmania.
Matthew Groom, Minister for State Growth