Gove closing but nothing heard from govt

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has taken the Abbott government to task for doing nothing about the impact the closure of an aluminium refinery will have on a remote Northern Territory community.

Mothballing of the Gove facility started this week after its owner Rio Tinto announced in November it was shutting down the operation.

About 350 of the 1500 employees will be redeployed to other Rio Tinto operations.

Both the territory and federal governments failed to reach a deal with the company to keep the refinery open.

Rio will fund a three-year support transition scheme for businesses and residents in the town of Nhulunbuy, 800 kilometres east of Darwin.

Mr Shorten, who visited the town on Friday, said every part of the local community would be affected by the closure.

"And yet they have heard absolutely nothing from the Abbott government," he told reporters.

During the September election campaign, Mr Abbott said he would seek to spend his first week as prime minister in Arnhem Land, which includes Nhulunbuy.

But Mr Shorten said no senior member of the government, including Mr Abbott, had been in touch with the local community.

"Despite all of the prime minister's rhetoric, it is clear that this government knows nothing about regional and remote communities and they care even less," he said.