Brickworks Closes Western Australia branch, citing energy costs and planning delays – Watts Up With That?
Essays by Eric Worrall
The green extremists running Western Australia appear to have demanded another energy-intensive industry, with the withdrawal of the entire branch of Australia’s largest brick maker.
Brickworks last WA factory mothball, says State ‘doesn’t want industry’
Sean SmithWestern Australia
Thursday, April 27, 2023 19:29Australia’s largest brick producer has accused the WA Government of turning its back on the company after closing its last brick factory in the State.
A move by Brickworks’ Australian branch to demolish their Cardup factory, in the southeastern suburbs of Perth, would make family-owned BGC’s Midland Brick the sole manufacturer of WA.
Brickworks said the Cardup closure will cause the company to sell from its brick-and-mortar stockpile for a year while it decides whether to leave WA.
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Brickworks CEO Lindsay Partridge reiterated late on Thursday that the company has struggled to make money in Western Australia in recent years, despite demand for new homes.
He blamed a variety of factors, including a drop in the number of starters and an inability to recover costs due to rising prices, but also criticized the WA Government for Brickworks’ failure to secure approval for the project. A new kiln at Cardup improves plant viability by increasing capacity and cutting fuel costs.
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Fuel and energy costs are a dilemma in Western Australia, due to hostile management, including ban fracking And chaos in Western Australia’s coal industry. Despite the high energy demand, for some reason coal mining companies in Western Australia are going bankrupt – probably due to excessive environmental regulations in my opinion.
The Western Australian government’s enthusiastic efforts to encourage renewable investment, helping to convert the state’s industries to Net Zero, have so far failed to generate confidence in energy-intensive industries such as Brickworks.
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