By her reckoning – and she concedes it is highly personal because of family connections – the Shoalhaven paper mill has fallen victim to a fatal concoction of the globalised economy and an ad hoc approach by successive governments to regional industry assistance.

As Ms Walsh sees it, the contrast between two key local industries – the paper mill and Manildra – illustrates the importance of an even playing field. Manildra has been the beneficiary of much government largesse in the form of subsidies for its ethanol production. It has also enjoyed a close political relationship with the Howard and Abbott governments.

A few hundred metres away, the paper mill has not enjoyed the same level of assistance. In one instance, market forces have been left unfettered; in another, they have been distorted. It’s ad hoc policy at work.

But that’s not the only problem with market forces. 

One of our biggest trading partners is China, whose economy is a hybrid of communism and capitalism. Its currency is deliberately kept low, whereas ours and those of the rest of the developed world are left to market forces. That’s an uneven playing field which is disastrous for home-grown but now foreign-owned enterprises like the paper mill. Once it ceases operation in August, its highly specialised security paper, used in passports and other official documents, will most likely be manufactured in China. 

Here in Shoalhaven, the loss of 75 jobs will be keenly felt. In an anaemic local economy such as ours, it will mean dozens of families will spend less, a hit that will be felt in the retail sector, itself struggling with market forces in the form of much larger, better stocked shopping centres to our north. 

If regional centres such as ours are to grow and prosper, some balance must be restored to the calculus of market forces and industry assistance. The only place that can come from is the government.