Delays have emerged in recruitment processes at Victoria's Pig Services Centre, despite suggestions it has been difficult to attract staff to positions there.
The Victorian Government said the Bendigo facility had been temporarily closed to protect staff from coronavirus.
The centre manufactures vaccines for use by the state's pig farmers. However, new orders submitted to the facility, for now at least, will be fulfilled by a private company.
Victorian Agriculture Minister, Jaclyn Symes, said there had been "real difficulties" in filling staff vacancies at the centre.
"The science lab jobs in regional Victoria … they've been advertised on numerous occasions and they haven't been able to be filled," Ms Symes said.
"As soon as [the laboratory] reopens we'll be readvertising those positions and we'll see what happens. I don't have an answer for you on why those jobs aren't being filled."
Work at the centre was suspended recently, in what Ms Symes described as a temporary move to safeguard its staff from coronavirus.
"This is a temporary closure and it will reopen when things improve in relation to the COVID pandemic," she said.
New information suggests there were doubts about the facility's future before coronavirus reached Australia.
Scientist Cheree Fitzgibbon applied for a position at the centre in May last year, but she said it took more than three months to hear about the outcome.
"I went through the interview process in June, and was told in July that I was a preferred candidate for the position," Ms Fitzgibbon said.
"Then in early September I was told … that the recruitment for that position had been put on hold even though I was the preferred candidate until the certainty of the [centre] was determined and decided."
