This versatile office paper can be used for printing and copying but it is also suitable to be used in mail communications such as letters and notices. A hardwood grower, John Woodley, says plantations have been “competing directly with government agencies for market share”.

Victoria produces on average around 2.5m cubic metres of hardwood plantation pulplog per annum,” he says. “Most is exported.” It’s a false dichotomy of jobs versus environment, a culture war that the company is stoking because it doesn’t want to take responsibility for something it hasn’t planned for,” says Bronya Lipski, a lawyer who grew up in the Latrobe Valley and now works as policy and advocacy manager at Environment Victoria. Opal says the M5 shutdown is due to a series of court rulings against its supplier VicForests, the state-owned logging enterprise. In a statement to shareholders on Tuesday, it said its decision to close was a “response to this sudden and unexpected suspension of supply”.

HP Office A4 White Paper 80gsm (Pack of 2500)

Plantation farmers say the state undercuts plantations by handing VicForests and customers like Opal a free primary resource – 1.8m hectares (4.5m acres) of native forest. Mill workers believe Opal “isn’t interested in sourcing timber from anywhere else”, Henry says. “They’re using VicForests as an excuse for something that wasn’t making a profit.” The Maryvale paper mill is the latest in a long line of employers in the Latrobe Valley to close or downsize. Photograph: Chris Taylor Out of paper: the last roll of white copy paper produced at the Maryvale mill in December. Photograph: Olivias Poppa

Plantation blue gum grown in western Victoria is bought by Nippon Paper Group – the owner of Opal – and exported.

Suitable for high volume printing, faxing and copying, the 500 sheets of 3R91854 A4 Premier Paper give exceptional reliability when used in high-speed laser and colour inkjet printers as well as copier machines. Opal says the court rulings have left the M5 without the wood pulp needed to produce paper. But critics of the company say that does not tell the full picture, which is that the market for copy paper has been in decline.