CUTTING Deniliquin from the border bubble has halted a $2.5 million upgrade to the town's rice mill, because workers from Wodonga can no longer travel there without having to quarantine.
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Crews from RMR Engineering and EDC Electrical were to carry out an upgrade of machinery to allow for processing to be done more rapidly.
RMR managing director Peter Taylor said three staff were to travel on Friday to unload equipment and a further ten were to follow over the weekend to start work.
"It's put a big dampener on it for us and it's come at a huge cost," Mr Taylor said.
He said equipment had been hired from Melbourne and $10,000 was going to be spent on motel accommodation in Deniliquin.
With Victoria's removal of Edward River council from the bubble, it means RMR could face costs of $83,500 to quarantine workers, something Mr Taylor said was unaffordable and inconvenient given there were other jobs they could do.
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RMR had been given the job in mid-May with planning having unfolded since then.
Mr Taylor said it could cost the firm up to $30,000 with packing and repacking costs.
EDC managing director Jason Flower said his team was to travel over next week and it followed his firm being hit by Murrumbidgee Council's ejection from the bubble when it had a job at a Darlington Point poultry plant.
Mill owner Sunrice confirmed the project was to begin on Saturday and it was to allow a bumper crop already harvested to be processed for export from Melbourne.
A spokesperson said "unfortunately" it did not seem possible the work could proceed due to the bubble ousting, though help was being sought from state governments.
"We are seeking for the NSW and Victorian governments to come together to find a common-sense solution to enable these important works to be undertaken, which are critical to our plans to ramp up production at our Deniliquin mill so that we can process the larger 2021 Riverina rice crop," the representative said.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said he would examine the matter and speak to his cross border commissioner James McTavish.
"I'm happy to have a look at it," he said.
Business NSW Murray Riverina regional manager Anthony McFarlane is also lobbying on behalf of Sunrice, noting it would allow for more mill staff to be employed after low harvests in recent years.
"Drought has severely crippled rice production in the Riverina in 2019 and 2020 and this harvest will be ten times higher than last year," Mr McFarlane said.
"To take advantage of that and to bring on staff made redundant they're looking to ramp up production at the Deniliquin mill and this work will take it from doing 19 tonnes per hour to 25 tonnes per hour."
Mr McFarlane said the inability to do the upgrade had broad consequences.
"It has wider impacts for the border economy, it's not just the direct economic impact with jobs and production, it's what that crop does for food supply in Australia and globally," he said.
"It has wider implications for the national economy."
