00:02Rachel Andrews's grandfather helped build the Belle Bay aluminium smelter.
00:06Seventy years later she's fighting to stop its closure.
00:10He'd be devastated. That'd be a legacy lost.
00:13Ms Andrews works for Belle Bay's local industry association now,
00:17but she previously worked at the smelter, as did her father and daughter.
00:22She said it allowed her to buy her own home.
00:24We've all benefited and lived a certain lifestyle due to Belle Bay aluminium being viable.
00:31But with the smelter's owner Rio Tinto warning it's unviable without a cheaper long-term power deal,
00:37a community coalition is sending an open letter to the Tasmanian Premier and the Prime Minister,
00:43urging them to get a deal done.
00:45This is a team Tasmania moment, but it is with industry, it is with unions, it is with community leaders.
00:51This is about the future that we want for Tasmania and we want to be heard loud and clear.
00:57But the state says it's a job for the federal government.
01:00I think it's really great that we have got these stakeholders who have written to the Premier,
01:07but more importantly to the Prime Minister.
01:09While the Commonwealth says it's up to the state.
01:12A spokesperson for Federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres saying,
01:15we encourage the Tasmanian government to use all the levers at its disposal to support its industrial base.
01:21I think the time has come for both the federal and the state to actually just sit down, get it
01:27done and get it done now.
01:29Rio Tinto and Hydro Tasmania have been negotiating a long-term power deal since 2024.
01:34Last year they inked a 12-month extension on their current power deal with that agreement to expire at the
01:39end of this year.
01:41With about four months needed for a facility of this size to begin shutdown,
01:45a new long-term power deal needs to be signed by next week.
01:4900,g
01:4900,
01:5200,
01:5300,
01:5300,
01:5400.
