About 230 jobs at New Zealand’s largest paper mill are at risk after an Oji Fibre Solutions proposal to halt paper production at Kinleith Mill in mid-2025.

Now, a community-led campaign, “Save Our Jobs! Save Our Mill!” has launched to spotlight the cost potential job losses could have on Tokoroa.

Maryana Garcia sat down with community advocates to talk about the mill’s importance to the town and their hopes for the campaign’s first event, which Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is expected to attend.

When Kinleith Mill employee Kyle Pourau found out his job was at risk in a proposal to cut paper production, his first reaction was shock.

“What? How am I going to feed the kids? How am I going to put food on the table? How am I going to pay the mortgage? How am I going to clothe people?

“All that sort of stuff goes rushing through your head straight away.”

But there was another question at the top of Pourau’s mind.

“Can we change anything? What can I do to help?”

Kinleith Mill employee Kyle Pourau. Photo / Maryana Garcia

Pourau, 35, has worked in and around the timber industry his whole professional life, first as an auto electrician servicing mill vehicles and logging equipment, then as a production operator for 13 years.

He knew instantly that the effects of the potential 230 job losses would ripple through the town of Tokoroa.

“We’re not just workers. We’re people in the community, too,” he told the Herald.

“Our workers are the volunteers for the sports clubs, the people on the boards of trustees at schools. A majority of the volunteer firefighters in this town are Kinleith workers.

“It even goes down to the people we buy our energy drinks off in the morning, the people who clean our overalls.”

South Waikato YMCA general manager Julius Daniels said in Tokoroa “everybody knows somebody” directly connected to Kinleith Mill in the past or the present.

“We’re all reliant on each other.

“When you think of Tokoroa, you think Timbertown. Tokoroa was built on New Zealand forest products.”

Daniels is a third-generation Cook Islander born in Tokoroa after his great-grandparents migrated to New Zealand to work at what is now known as Kinleith Mill.

“All the families that work there, I know. More than enough of the people who work out there are directly related to me.”

“This is going to be the beginning of the end if we don’t do anything about it.”

Pourau and Daniels are two of the Tokoroa community members on the core team helping to organise the Save Our Jobs! Save Our Mill! campaign.

The campaign was launched with a GiveaLittle page on November 24 and has since gained $6094 in donations towards a $20,000 fundraising goal.

The funds will go towards the costs of a community event to be held on Monday and the printing of signs, pamphlets and posters.

Daniels said the community event, to be held at 6pm at the South Waikato Sports and Events Centre, was about “rallying everybody together”.

“We might not be able to save that mill outright and save all those jobs but we will be able to bring a spotlight on Tokoroa.

“We’ve got something to offer. We’ve got a community here that still needs to move forward regardless of what happens out there.”

The event will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.

South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley.

South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley will also attend the event.

Petley said the immediate concern remained on encouraging Government agencies to provide appropriate support to impacted workers and their families.

“I have written to and talked to Government representatives recently about the likely impacts of job losses in our South Waikato District.”

Taupō MP Louise Upston said she would be at the event to listen to her constituents’ concerns.

“The proposal to cease paper production at Kinleith Mill has been incredibly difficult and uncertain for affected workers and their families.”

Upston said ceasing paper production at the mill would be a blow to economic growth in the region.

The campaign and community event have also been supported by Tokoroa-raised Green Party MP Tamatha Paul.

In a social media post promoting the Save Our Mill community event, Paul said Tokoroa could become an inspiration to industrial towns everywhere.

“The entire future and survival of our hometown relies on the Mill.”

Green MP Tamatha Paul.

An Oji Fibre Solutions spokesperson said the company was “very supportive” of the community’s efforts and acknowledged the mill’s importance to the region.

“We have made every effort to ensure we continue operating at the site.

“We have a proposal at this stage, and we want input from our employees, or anybody else with good ideas.

“However, paper production at Kinleith faces some big challenges, with dramatically increasing input costs and declining production,” the spokesperson said.

Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.