Sorbent Paper has moved to shut down another paper machine at its Box Hill site, wiping out around 60 more skilled manufacturing jobs and further reducing Australia's capacity to make essential household paper products locally.
The Timber, Furnishing and Textiles Union (TFTU) said the decision is another major step in the dismantling of local manufacturing at the iconic Sorbent facility, with more production shifted offshore while the brand continues to trade on its Australian reputation.
The union said Sorbent is owned by offshore interests linked to Asia Pulp & Paper, and the effect of the strategy is clear: use the value of a trusted Australian brand to grow consumer acceptability of imported product while cutting the local jobs, skills and manufacturing capacity that built that brand.
TFTU Pulp & Paper Workers District Secretary Denise Campbell-Burns said the company was abandoning the workers and community that made Sorbent an Australian household name.
"This is corporate vandalism," Ms Campbell-Burns said.
"These jobs are not just at risk — they are being wiped out.
"This is skilled, secure manufacturing work that should still have a future in Australia. Instead, an offshore-owned company is cutting Australian jobs, shutting Australian machines and replacing local production with imported product.
"That is the model we are up against: keep the Australian brand, keep the Australian customers, but get rid of the Australian workers."
The union said the latest closure follows years of contraction at the Box Hill site since it was acquired by APP in 2018, with each decision reducing jobs, skills, production capacity and Australia's ability to make essential products locally.
"This is not an isolated decision. It is a pattern," Ms Campbell-Burns said.
"This is how manufacturing capacity disappears. It happens machine by machine, shift by shift, job by job, until one day we realise we no longer make enough of the essentials we rely on.
"Once these machines are gone, they are gone for good. So are the jobs, the skills and the capacity to make these products here."
The union said the damage goes beyond Box Hill, because this strategy actively undermines Australia's remaining tissue and toilet paper manufacturers.
"This strategy does not just threaten Australian manufacturers — it helps displace them," Ms Campbell-Burns said.
"It uses the reputation of an Australian-made brand to grow imported supply, take shelf space and undercut companies still making tissue and toilet paper here.
"That rewards the wrong model. Companies investing in Australian workers, Australian mills and Australian supply chains should not be forced to compete against a strategy that trades on an Australian name while moving the work offshore."
Ms Campbell-Burns said Australia should not wait for another supply crisis before acting to defend local production.
"COVID showed what happens when Australia becomes too reliant on overseas supply for essential products. Toilet paper was the obvious example.
"Instead of learning that lesson, this company is doubling down on offshoring.
"Our members are angry, and they have every right to be. They built this business. Now they are watching it being dismantled."
The union is calling on Sorbent's owners to reverse the cuts, protect local jobs and commit to the future of Australian tissue and toilet paper manufacturing.
