PM rejects union’s request for help to save Kaitāia timber mill jobs
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has rejected a request from the Workers First Union, which has appealed for the Government to step in to prevent the loss of dozens of jobs at another wood processing mill that appears slated for closure.
Workers at Juken New Zealand’s Northland mill in Kaitāia were called into a meeting at 6.30am and told consultations on the proposed closure of the mill would begin on July 8 after the company failed to find a buyer.
Luxon blamed the former Government’s “failed” energy policy for the closure, saying energy was a “big part of what's been impacting our mills up and down regional New Zealand”.
“What this government is doing is expanding renewables, making sure we've got strategic coal reserves, strategic diesel reserves, and importantly also creating opportunities for gas, either through an LNG import facility, co-investment, gas transition loans, and other things.”
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Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni said the former was a “ridiculous claim.
“What is disappointing is that we've now got a government who want to invest in the LNG fund when they have been advised that this is not going to provide the solutions or answers for mills or companies like this, and so it's certainly not going to resolve the issues that we're seeing in manufacturing.”
Union organiser Marcus Coverdale said the mill employed 60 workers.
There were indications that perhaps five to 10 senior staff might be redeployed to Juken’s nearby Triboard Mill, he said.
Coverdale said he believed Juken had found a buyer for the Triboard Mill which employs about 145 workers.
The Japanese-owned firm has been approached for comment. It indicated in March that it wanted to exit both mills, in part due to high operating costs.
Coverdale said high power prices and transport costs ‒ made worse by rising fuel prices following the Middle East conflict ‒ appeared to have been contributing factors, noting there was no rail connection to the town.
Northland Mill would be the seventh major wood processing site lost during the term of the coalition Government, the union said.
“Not all hope is lost and it’s now time to wait to see if this Government will offer the mill workers a lifeline,” Coverdale said.
Resources Minister Shane Jones has been approached for comment.
Coverdale acknowledged any Government intervention would probably require an ongoing subsidy.
“I feel it’s too expensive for them to run, and probably has been for a while.”
But there was more at stake than the mill workers’ jobs themselves, given the flow-on effects the closure would have on Kaitāia, he said.
Juken’s Triboard Mill manufactured Triboard wood panels that were mainly used in housing construction, he said.
The Northland Mill took the remainder of the log to process into veneers, he said.
“In terms of sustainability, between the two mills, the full log is used. Without a buyer found for the Northland Mill, we’ll be taking the top of the log for Triboard and sending the other raw two-thirds overseas without any value added.”