00:02Rallying to support workers at the Liberty Bell Bay manganese smelter.
00:06Who have been told they'll be laid off on Friday unless they take leave without pay.
00:12Heath Williams has worked there for 18 years.
00:15There's a lot of nervous people because they don't know where they can go if it does shut.
00:21The smelter was placed into voluntary administration last month.
00:25Prospective buyers toured the site today.
00:28At least 12 interested buyers for the site. That's a fantastic sign.
00:33What I can say to you is that the indications are strong that we have a transaction.
00:38So I am confident that we will achieve a sale.
00:42The State Government has asked the Commonwealth to partner with them to cover workers' wages until the smelter is sold.
00:49We have it before the Federal Government at the moment and the Federal Government understand the urgency of making sure
00:55that this happens in a timely manner.
00:57It's good that there is movement from the State Government because that's where we understand there was a bit of
01:02a blockage.
01:03The Federal Government hasn't yet confirmed if they'll provide the money.
01:07For every other industry support package that's happened across Australia it's always been 50-50 with State and Federal and
01:15it's really important that we keep that.
01:17We can't keep, we can't do it alone. It has to be in conjunction with States.
01:21It's not just the smelter workers who face an uncertain future.
01:26Their wages help prop up hundreds of families, businesses and community organisations in the region.
01:32The shops, I don't know how they'll cope because a lot of business, they come in and get their lunches
01:45and go back to work.
01:46A community asking for certainty.
01:49A community asking for certainty.
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