Recession declared, refinery jobs at risk

AUSTRALIA is now officially in a recession and the 10,000 jobs lost across Geelong and the Surf Coast during the coronavirus pandemic could grow even higher, with a Geelong refinery warning it may be forced to shut down completely.
The national account figures, released last week, confirm Australia has experienced two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
G21 chief executive officer Elaine Carbines said a recession was “a very hard economic time that lasts” and the condition was not just a technical term but was already being felt by the region’s businesses.
“It’s not just a blip on a graph – when we’ve gone through these before, there have been many, many victims. Some people never worked again, and some businesses never emerged, so it’s no joke; we all have to take it seriously.
“Even when the restrictions ease, it doesn’t mean that all of a sudden, we’re going to recoup all those lost jobs. Because of the recession, we won’t. So it’s going to be a very hard 12 to 24 months for all Australians, and particularly Victorians.”
Commerce Torquay president Jeff Crow said the recession was not unexpected as the underlying economic conditions had been going on for some time, but emerging from the recession would be tricky.
“Even if they said there wasn’t a recession, there’s a reality we all know we’re facing because of the shutdowns.
“Coming out of recession requires the release of the COVID restrictions, and that becomes a health issue, and the economic issue is creating the health issue.”
On Monday this week, Viva Energy told shareholders it was considering the option of fully shutting down its Geelong operations, which employ 700 people.
“The impacts of COVID-19 and the restrictions on mobility and the economy are putting extreme pressures on the refining business that we have not experienced before and are not sustainable over the long term,” chief executive officer Scott Wyatt said.
Ms Carbines said it was concerning that another 700 jobs could be lost on top of the 10,000 forecasted to go earlier this year.
“That would be a major blow not just to our region’s economy, but to our state’s economy.
“The fuel that’s produced at the Viva refinery is important to the whole country – it’s the only producer of aviation fuel – so we need the state and federal governments to get in behind the refinery and make sure it stays open.
“We already had (before the coronavirus) places in our region with incredibly high unemployment rates; this is going to make that situation much worse and further marginalise disadvantaged people.”
Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said her government was providing the Geelong refinery $2.5 million a month in JobKeeper payments and was working closely with the sector on a long-term fuel security package.
“The Victorian Government must urgently step up and provide support for the Geelong refinery and the thousands of direct and indirect jobs which depend on it.”