With a sweet new deal on the table, Mossman cane farmers are crowing...
Shire jobs
About $6m of State Government money will be provided for Mossman growers to truck cane down to the Mulgrave Sugar Mill in Gordonvale across up to five years in a deal that is hoped will rescue the region’s sugar-growing industry.
Cook MP David Kempton said this week he had been working across the past year on shoring up the deal - even before he was elected to state parliament - with a visit to Mossman by the Premier helping to get it across the line.
“It’s pretty exciting to have the Premier David Crisafulli up here on Saturday to meet with the council, with MSF (Sugar) and a large contingent of growers in the CWA hall, where our government reaffirmed its offer to support the cane industry well into the future,” Mr Kempton said.
“What’s proposed is that, if the growers and MSF can come to an arrangement for the long-term cutting and transporting of cane down to the Mulgrave Mill, we will underpin that with the necessary infrastructure.”
This would include bins to contain the cane for transporting and the truck trailers themselves, he said.
“It gives them viability and some certainty in the industry well into the future.
“It’s a really good deal, it’s been worked up over a number of months and the Premier came to assure everybody that this State Government’s well behind this proposal.”
Mr Kempton has been chairing the Mossman Advisory Committee meetings each month for the past eight months and he said this was the accumulation of that work.
“What I couldn’t do is turn my back on this community, it’s far too important, after 130 years of continuous cane growing.
“So I’m very excited about the future.
“Obviously the economy was shrinking, and there was a lot of pressure on the rate base.
“This gives a really important breather for both - it boosts the economy and gives it certainty for the future and breathes some hope into Douglas Shire that they can be more viable than they have in the past.”
Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett said “an additional $6m has been made available” for the new trucking project.
Canegrowers from across the district were present at Saturday’s meeting, along with Mr Kempton, Premier Crisafulli, Douglas Shire Council Mayor Lisa Scomazzon and DSC chief executive Scott Osman, as they discussed the future of the industry in the wake of Mossman Mill going into voluntary liquidation in late 2023.
About 80 farmers grew cane in the district at the time, with about 150 locals working at the mill.
In February 2024, then premier Steven Miles offered more than $12m to help attract a buyer, but no sale was secured.
A month later, the administrator announced the mill was permanently closing and assets would be sold off.
In June of that year, former premier Miles put $6m towards a package to truck the cane down to Mulgrave Mill in Gordonvale so the farmers could get some return on their product.
“$6 million will go toward transport costs to get this year’s harvest to crush, which is critical for growers to be able to make money off this crop,” Mr Miles said at the time.
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