Liberty Bell Bay Smelter Workers Get Wage Lifeline

0:00It's April 22. From your city to your ears, this is Adelaide News today, powered by AI. Workers at the Liberty Bell-based smelter in Northern Tasmania just got a lifeline with three weeks of guaranteed wages from a deal between the state and federal governments. The plant went into administration back on March 23, and they're still hunting for a buyer to keep things running. Last week, the roughly 200 workers faced a tough call, unpaid leave starting this Friday, for risk losing their jobs altogether, with an initial deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday. But talks heated up, pushing that cutoff to 5 p.m. Thursday, buying time for the agreement. Federal industry minister Tim Ares and premier Jeremy Rockliffe showed up at the site today to seal it, covering a weekly payroll of about 1.6 million dollars while the buyer's search rolls on.