Federal member for Lyne Rob Oakeshott confirmed yesterday the region’s interim employment officer, Mark Almond, was speaking with company officials about the factory’s future.

Mr Almond was appointed as the Mid North Coast’s interim local employment co-ordinator just weeks ago after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd recognised the region as disadvantaged and included it on a priority list.

He said Mr Almond’s talks with the company would show whether there was any avenue to pursue Commonwealth support for the company and its employees.

Mr Oakeshott said if the talks were positive and there was any possibility the decision to close could be re-considered, the door was wide open for support of workers and their families and he was happy to act as a sounding board in working through any issues.

He added that if anyone in the community had a good idea to assist the situation he was more than happy to speak to them.

Mr Oakeshott said the region was now seeing real examples of the implications of the global economic crisis.

“For any of the cynics out there, I hope this hammers the message home that it is real and it is here,” he said, adding it was essential that government and members of the community stood ‘shoulder to shoulder’ to work through the crisis.

State member for Myall Lakes John Turner agreed that the closure was unfortunately a ‘sign of the times,’ adding he believed there would be more hardship to endure before the economic climate improved.

“This is a tragic decision for the Manning Valley, one would hope there would be a smooth transition for employees,” he said.

Mr Turner said he would be speaking to Greater Taree City Council’s economic development manager about the situation to see if any government assistance was possible, but believed as this was a corporate decision it was unlikely that political or community involvement would alter the factory’s fate.