BORAL Timbers is going to have to fish or cut bait. Its apparent plan to close down the Walcha mill it bought less than four years ago, while sitting on the timber licences so no one else can come in to generate new jobs in place of the old, is morally reprehensible.

It is a telling sign some sections of

corporate Australia have strayed a long way from the standard of conduct we are entitled to expect.

If the bean counters at Boral reckon they can’t screw enough of a quid out of what is probably one of their smaller operations, then they should give somebody else a go.

We point out, with all due respect, that as an independent entity the Walcha mill managed to turn an operating

profit for a century.

Now, four years into the new regime, that has all changed – apparently because the housing market has gone off a bit.

We suggest, again with all due respect, that this is not the first economic

downturn the Walcha mill has been called upon to weather in the past 100 years.

Is Walcha being punished for a failure to perform by the local mill or is it being served up as a sacrificial lamb because of managerial deficiencies elsewhere in the Boral empire?

One thing is for sure and for certain. The events of recent days have created a strong impression that while Boral sees the town of Walcha – and its

dedicated timber-milling workforce – as expendable, it considers the timber licences on which the mill is based as very desirable assets.

We would argue – and we suspect

others would agree – the proper price for access to a local timber resource is the provision of local jobs.

This is particularly the case when Boral has reportedly benefited from $22.5 million in Government grants in recent times.

Come on Boral. If you can’t do the job of making Walcha pay, then hand it over – along with the Government funding that has come along the way – to someone else who can.