TRANSCRIPT: BUNDABERG DOORSTOP INTERVIEW, 18 October 2019

E&OE

WITH: MR KEITH PTTT MP, MEMBER FOR HINKLER & JANELLE GERRY, COMPANY DIRECTOR & FINANCE, FARMFRESH FINE FOODS & MACADAMIAS AUSTRALIA

Subjects: New Macadamias Australia project, IWC facility, racing industry; infrastructure projects in Hinkler region; cashless debit card trial

JOURNALIST:

Right-o. Can you tell us what we’re doing here today?

KEITH PITT:

Well, today I’m here with Michael McCormack, the Deputy Prime Minister, and we are at Macadamias Australia in Bundaberg. We’re looking at progress on a regional jobs and investment package, a funded project for Macadamias Australia, which includes tourism and processing facilities. In fact, it's a $22 million investment by this local family owned business.

JOURNALIST:

Pretty huge, I guess, part of Bundaberg and Macadamias Australia. Can you tell, I guess, why is it so important to invest here?

KEITH PITT:

Well, macadamias in this region- we are now the biggest producer of macadamias in Australia. It's an incredibly important part of our economy. It continues to grow. And we are feeding the world with macadamias from right here in Bundaberg. So, we'll have a processing facility here with Macadamias Australia. We've partnered- they've partnered with the Federal Government, where we've provided funding under the [indistinct] projects- programs. What I really want to say to your viewers is this is government in partnership with business in action. We look around here: we've got excavators on the ground, we've got builders on the ground, we've got construction going on, we are driving jobs into our local economy; and for me as a local member, that is what is critically important.

JOURNALIST:

So you mentioned, I guess, a partnership with creating jobs and all that kind of thing. You’re also, I understand, kind of extending that out to the IWC. Can you tell us a bit about what’s happening there?

KEITH PITT:

So, the IWC Stage 2 facility will be opened today by the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. This is an extension obviously of their health provision and services, which provide that service to our local community and in particular, for those who do find themselves in some difficult circumstances at times.

JOURNALIST:

Sorry. I’ll just jump back to this one. Can you tell us, I guess, how much money is going into helping this out?

KEITH PITT:

So just under $5 million is the contribution from the Federal Government. And once again, I mean, this is a project where the State Government didn't get in the way. I think that is a really important point to make. We have contributed money from a federal level. There’s obviously private investment from Macadamias Australia and this project is just getting on with it. So, jobs are here. Jobs will be here in the long term. It drives our local economy. It provides more prosperity and that is what is critically important for the people I represent.

I might ask the Deputy Prime Minister to make some remarks.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Yeah. Congratulations to [inaudible]. Her family, a third generation family supporting jobs, supporting local industry and Macadamias Australia is going from strength to strength on the back of the Federal Government's contribution, as Keith Pitt has just said, just under $5 million, on the back of the State Government not getting in the way and on the back of their own confidence, taking that that leap of faith to back themselves. And that's what we like, as a Federal Government – industries, factories, family-owned businesses which back themselves and put their faith in their own ability to grow, to prosper, to create jobs. This is creating many, many jobs in the construction phase and many, many more ongoing jobs when this plant, when this factory, gets finalised. And the fact is it's also going to be a great boost for this regional tourism industry as well.

JOURNALIST:

Why is it so important [indistinct]…?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, we’ve now experienced as a nation a record unbroken run of 36 months of employment growth. There's more people in work now than there ever has been before in this nation and we want to grow that. We've provided tax incentives for business. So the small business tax rate is now the lowest it's been since 1940. And so, on the back of making sure that businesses are paying less tax, businesses are keeping more of what they earn, they're then backing themselves. They're putting the confidence in their own ability to grow their factories, to grow their plants, to grow their businesses even more. And we back them to do that. To grow Australia, we need to grow jobs and as Keith Pitt knows, when you have more trade, that means more jobs. And this is going to obviously be a great industry for domestic purposes but more importantly, perhaps, for export purposes. These macadamias from this area of Queensland are going to be sold to the world so they know and enjoy that the freshest and best macadamias come from right here, Macadamias Australia, and well done to the Steinhardt family for having that confidence in themselves and for growing this family owned business for so many generations.

JOURNALIST:

Last night’s 7.30 program revealed some quite startling figures about the number of former race horses that are being slaughtered in an industrial scale. Is the Government looking to start an inquiry into just what is happening in New South Wales?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, the fact is racing is run generally at a state level. Isn't that typical that all of a sudden as the Spring Racing Carnival cranks up and we've got the Melbourne Cup and The Everest not far around the corner that the people are now looking, pointing the finger. I mean, I'm sure just before Christmas, there'll be people pointing the finger and saying: isn't this a bad thing? Look, these sorts of reports are disturbing. There's no question about it. I didn't happen to actually see the report last night. I was at a rural youth leadership program dinner. I was speaking at that. But of course, we don't like to see bad practices in the racing industry. We don't like to see cruelty to horses. Of course, we don't. But there’s also- shine a light on anything in this nation and you always find people who are critical of it. You'll always find people, particularly Greens, who want to shut everything down. Well, the racing industry – yes, it has faults. There's no question about that. But it also employs a lot of people. It is one of Australia's five largest industries as I read one time. I know how many people it employs both directly and indirectly. And as we lead into the rather exciting Melbourne Cup and Spring Racing Carnival, and of course The Everest as is on as well, it’s an exciting time and a lot of people enjoy it. A lot of people are employed by it, not just in the horse racing but also in the hospitality sector, in the tourism sector. And of course, then you've got people out who want to ban the whole racing industry. That's the Greens’ way.

What we need to do is find those who are at fault in these sorts of industries and in these sorts of sectors and weed them out. And I know the racing industry places the integrity at the highest level. I know they want people to comply with the rules, to comply with the guidelines, and of course, to take care of horses both when they're racing and when they're retired. And of course, that would be the bottom line. Absolutely, the racing industry does take every step and every measure to make sure that happens. But you're always going to get a few bad eggs no matter what you're doing in life – whether it's the horse racing industry or indeed whatever else it is. You're always going to find that there are some people who break the rules and they should be stamped out obviously.

JOURNALIST:

It wasn't just a few people though. This was shown on an industrial scale. What do you think needs to be done to get these people out of the industry?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, I didn't see the report but I know when the New South Wales Government banned the greyhound industry, the backlash about that. I mean- and why do you stop an industry, stop a sector, just because of the actions of the minority. You don't do that. It's not the way that we should be doing things. The horse racing industry provides employment and opportunities for millions of Australians. And for the sake of a few bad eggs, who should be weeded out of the industry obviously, I don't think you should be stopping the whole industry and particularly, at this time of year when it's at its peak.

JOURNALIST:

You’ve both said that this is a successful project because the state government hasn't interfered. In terms of the Hinkler regional deal with the state government not coming on board, is there going to be any commitment from the Federal Government into funding and projects in Bundaberg?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, we have provided considerable funding for projects in Bundaberg, in Hervey Bay and Maryborough and we will continue to do that, and our projects are creating jobs. Our projects are creating hope and opportunity and certainly that's what we do as a Federal Government. And the local members here – Keith Pitt, Llew O'Brien, Ken O'Dowd – they're all in there making sure that every day they stand up in Parliament, they're talking about just that: about certainty, about stability, and about, most of all, jobs. We've had 36 months of unbroken jobs growth in this nation and largely we've addressed the problems that we inherited as far as the jobless. We're making sure that if there's somebody who's out of work, then there is a job there for them. We're making sure that there are opportunities in these regional centres. Keith Pitt knows that better than anybody. He's employed a lot of people over his years before he got into Parliament. He understands the absolute critical nature of giving people the best opportunity for success in life and that is through gainful employment.

JOURNALIST:

Can I just get a grab in relation to the IWC project, so you’re set to open it today? What are your thoughts on it?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, it's a fantastic facility and obviously we've invested considerably into this project, a multi-storey building going to provide hope and wellness for Indigenous people, but indeed for the entire community. And so this is a good project. I know it's been supported by the community. I congratulate the proponents. I know that for Indigenous people and others besides, the best thing that they can get is healthy outcomes out of life. We're providing that by partnering with the proponents. We're making sure that whether it's here or whether it's right across the nation that we have healthy outcomes. And when you have a healthy outcome, you have a happy community.

JOURNALIST:

Thanks a lot.

JOURNALIST:

Yup, I just might- oh no, you can, I’ll let you [indistinct]

KEITH PITT:

I just want to make some comments on another project just briefly before we go to Janelle. I’m sure she’d like to make some comments. The Pacific Tug project at the Bernard Heads port, at the Bundaberg port. We announced $6 million in funding with Bundaberg Regional Council for that project over two years ago, August 2017. That project, that contract, those individuals, that corporation has waited up until now for the state government to actually approve it. It is still not approved.

As a result, I've had to go back to the Federal Government and ask for an extension on the funding from the Federal Government for that $6 million. Now fortunately the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of Infrastructure and the Prime Minister have approved that extension, but that's $6 million could have been driving jobs into our economy 18 months ago. So I say again to Premier Palaszczuk, stop being the roadblock. You are blocking projects in our region for no known reason. In fact, you're taking away our wealth when we look at Paradise Dam. We can't continue to extend these projects if they have no intention of approving them. So I say again to the Premier, or the true Premier, Jackie Trad, just approve this project, let's get on with it. We have a company that wants to invest $30 million plus. We have $6 million committed from the Federal Government. We've had to extend the approval for that money because they simply haven't done their job at a state level.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think the Port is being neglected?

KEITH PITT:

Oh, I don't think there's any doubt about that at all. I mean this is politics at its worst. What we are trying to drive jobs into our regional economy, we are committing money from the budget which is readily available, and we now have to continue to extend the availability of that cash which could have been driving jobs two years ago. So I say again to the state, stop getting in the way. Let's just get on with it.

JOURNALIST:

Some initial findings from [indistinct] studies into the cashless debit card trials in Hinkler have found that some participants aren’t able to purchase prescription medication [indistinct] with the card. They’ve also had issues paying for [indistinct] groceries. What’s your response to those claims?

KEITH PITT:

If you can tell me which study it is, I’m happy to make comment.

JOURNALIST:

Yes, the independent study by [indistinct].

KEITH PITT:

So this is a study which was not put forward by government, I- my understanding was it wasn't funded by government and if those challenges actually existed, then those individuals have every opportunity to go to both the shopfronts, to the department, whether it's online, whether it's on the phone, whether it's face-to-face to have them addressed. They have not been raised with me. If they are an individual case and an individual circumstance. The only issue that I'm aware of is when we had one of our local shopping centres that lost all of their IT, so no cards worked at all and we had one brief incident for a short period of time in Hervey Bay at one centre.

If this was truly the case, our phones would be running off the hook. In my view, the cashless debit card has been a great initiative and policy initiative for our region. It is a tough but necessary policy. It's the reason for the trial and we are ironing out any challenges as they come forward. So for those individuals, if you do have those problems, I continue to encourage you to take it up with DSS, with your shopfront provider. I mean, we have people who want to volunteer to go on the card who are outside of the cohort. I think that is a reflection on the true value for our local community.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

[Indistinct] with the port project, I'm not happy to have to extend it but I'm satisfied with the reasons for it. I understand that this is a significant project for this region and I get the fact that this is going to create and drive more jobs. We just need the Queensland Government, for goodness sake get on with it, make sure you do the necessary work to be able to get this project up and off the ground. It's so important that the Queensland Government works with us.

I'm happy to work with any state government, any territory government of any political persuasion to get things done. And indeed, that progress was even noted in the Victorian Parliament this week during Question Time when I was actually praised and our government was praised by the state Labor government there for getting on and being collaborative and being cooperative and getting things done. And when you come to Queensland, unfortunately as Keith Pitt has just said, there are always roadblocks, there's always impediments.

We just want to get stuff done, stuff built. I was very, very pleased to work with Anthony Lynham to make sure that we signed off on the Emu Swamp Dam. Now we did that on August 3 and I was hopeful at the time that we could have got shovels in the ground before the end of the year. I found out yesterday that that's now not likely to happen until July next year. Well okay, I can accept that, we'll get through the necessary protocols and necessary tick-offs and we'll start that project by July next year. But when it comes to this port project, when it comes to Rookwood Weir, and when it comes to so many other projects, let's put the politics aside and let's just get on and do it.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

All good?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

All good.

[Unrelated content – second audio set up]

JOURNALIST:

Beautiful. So we might start off – can you tell us a bit I guess about what’s going on here and what’s going to be happening?

JANELLE GERRY:

Yeah. The project that we're seeing unfolding before us is going to be a cracking facility and value adding plant. It also has an attached tourism facility and offices. So we really want to be a fully vertically integrated business, basically from paddock to plate. Our company has 200,000 trees and we saw the need in our region for a processing facility. This facility will not only crack our own but we will be collaborating with local growers and beyond to be able to crack nuts from the- this industry and of course, as we've heard before it's a growing industry in this region, and we're really looking forward to seeing the project complete by around April next year.

JOURNALIST:

How many local growers are going to be putting their nuts through this facility?

JANELLE GERRY:

Well we hope to be able to collaborate with as many growers as possible as some obviously a lot more growers coming into the industry, so we'd like to work with them right from the very start when they're planting the tree; share our knowledge with growers, truly get a collaborative approach. But you know we might see ourselves collaborating with maybe 20 to 30 growers from this region and beyond.

JOURNALIST:

And how much product would go through this facility?

JANELLE GERRY:

The product- the capacity of our plant will be around 10,000 tonnes. So you know that obviously is not going to happen in the first year but we will grow into that over the coming years.

JOURNALIST:

And why does having a facility like this really benefit the region?

JANELLE GERRY:

Well there's only one processing plant in Bundaberg at the moment and Bundaberg now being the largest growing region in Australia, we felt the need as a family business to build a processing facility. It actually future proofs our business as well as the whole industry. Because there's so many new plantings coming in, we felt as though it was very important to see that the industry has a secure base for cracking nuts for the years to come.

JOURNALIST:

When are you expecting the project to finish?

JANELLE GERRY:

We're expecting it to finish around April next year. So hopefully by May, June, we'll be cracking and starting to value add in this facility.

JOURNALIST:

Beautiful, thank you so much.

Shane Manning