00:03It's been a big relief to local workers as you'd expect. There was applause when Prime
00:08Minister Anthony Albanese entered a room filled with Bell Bay workers this morning and there
00:12were a lot of emotions and hugging just after the press conference. Now we've been chatting
00:17to Richard Curtis who is the local general manager here at Bell Bay Aluminium. Now he's
00:22obviously had a tough job not knowing if the smelter would continue beyond December this
00:26year. Last night he was able to call his workers and tell them the good news. Here he is now.
00:31Oh anxiety is released absolutely yeah. There are a lot of people who are relieved. There's been so
00:37much uncertainty not just on site but in the broader community in the region as well and it's lovely to
00:42to have that cleared up and we can move ahead and it's particularly important in the context of
00:47what's been playing out in the region lately. There was the Vogue's Brewery announcement,
00:51there was the closure of Liberty Bell Bay. Those things rocked the community and we certainly
00:58didn't want to be in that same position as well. There was only three months left of the current
01:02power deal and there's been tense negotiations for 18 months. So they were between the electricity
01:08supplier Hydro Tasmania and the smelters owners Rio Tinto. There was a 60 million dollar gap between
01:14what Hydro Tasmania were willing to sell for the power and what Rio Tinto were willing to pay for the
01:19power. Now this 200 million dollar announcement from the state and federal governments will plug
01:24that gap and it will ensure the future ongoing viability of the smelter until 2031. Now this
01:30smelter provides jobs for 550 people as well as 1200 people indirectly. There's also manufacturing and
01:38engineering firms locally here in Bell Bay that rely on the smelter for work so it's really welcome news
01:44for northern Tasmania. Here is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressing workers earlier today.
01:50We need to ensure that in today's uncertain world we be less dependent upon imports and that we're able
01:59to ensure that we manufacture things for domestic purposes but also that we manufacture for export as
02:08well. And here in Australia where we have you know everything that will power the globe in the 21st
02:15century under the ground or indeed how it gets manufactured in the sky with the best solar resources
02:22in the world. These are all absolutely vital for our nation and Tasmania I think is playing an increasingly
02:32important role. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with some very welcome news for northern Tasmania.
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