January 28, 2011 Staff Writer
Kimberly-Clark Australia (KCA) has decided to close two old tissue machines at its Millicent mill in southeast SA by May and axe 170 permanent jobs and a further 65 if a buyer can't be found for its Tantanoola pulp mill.
Mr Xenaphon said the KCA decision comes in the wake of warnings to the federal government that its decision not to apply dumping duties to cheap tissue imports was going to cost jobs.
"The current system has failed the 235 workers who now face losing their jobs and it needs to be changed," the senator said.
"This is a test case for manufacturing jobs in Australia and it's vital that dumping laws are given real teeth to better support Australian companies.
"The impact on the town of Millicent where the mills are based and indeed on the entire state of South Australia will be significant."
Dumping occurs when overseas companies offload products into a country below the cost it sells it for in its own country, flooding the market and making it near impossible for local companies to compete.
In 2008, the government imposed dumping duties on Chinese and Indonesian tissue products after it found Chinese products were being sold at two to 25 per cent below the cost in its domestic market and Indonesian toilet paper was 33 to 45 percent below value.
This decision was overruled in 2009 following a review by the Trade Measures Branch of Customs, which determined that there was "no material injury" to Australian manufacturing as a result.
Senator Xenophon has enlisted the support of key independent MP, Bob Katter, on the dumping issue and will be working together with him to move amendments.
