That was the long hoped-for announcement that the Kiewa Country milk brand was going to survive, though 60 milk processing jobs are only days away from coming to an end.

For so many people, the retention of the Kiewa brand will be extremely welcome.

As Tangambalanga General Store owner-operator Phillip George said on hearing the news, “whoever the investor is, well done on keeping the Kiewa brand alive”.

But despite that development – made known in a public statement lacking detail – there is still a cloud of uncertainty and concern surrounding the Tangambalanga plant.

Union officials have expressed their dismay at their belief that as few as 12 jobs could result from the sale of the Kiewa brand to what Murray Goulburn would describe only as “a local business that is expected to recommence local manufacture in the future”.

It would not be right to say this wasn’t a positive move, but even allowing for normal commercial-in-confidence reasoning for keeping parts of the deal under wraps there should have been a bit more detail about just what is taking place.

The workers who might secure jobs after losing out with the Kiewa site’s closure and the surrounding communities that benefit from the flow-on effects of such employment deserve that.

This is certainly the view of Indigo Council’s mayor.

Jenny O’Connor has decried Murray Goulburn for not letting the community know just who has actually bought the Kiewa Country milk brand.

She is right to say that Murray Goulburn’s use of the word “local” is not good enough given, as she points out, “there are many people desperately looking for work and want to know if there is an opportunity for them”.

Murray Goulburn cannot be criticised for keeping elements of the deal confidential, as much for its own commercially driven reasons as for the incoming owners.

But it almost beggars belief that the company could make public such a significant development without realising this had the potential to create more uncertainty than relief. Indeed, the pertinent question is why did it go public when it wasn’t ready to give the community a far clearer picture.