20 ON THE LAND
thursday 01 july 2021
burdekinlocal.com.au
WILMAR’S PROSERPINE MILL OPENS NEW STORE BUILDING Wilmar Sugar PROSERPINE Mill’s new store building is officially open for business. Construction of the $2.8 million building was finalised in May, with Wilmar Sugar employees moving into their new offices last week. The two-storey, prefab structure replaces the store and offices destroyed by fire in January 2020. Wilmar Sugar General Manager Purchasing, Procurement and Supply Rohan Whitmee said the building was constructed in a new location on site to improve vehicle access and traffic management. He said the purpose-built
store featured a number of design improvements on its predecessor. “It has a substantial increase in racking and shelving in the main storage area and has a climatecontrolled storage space,” Mr Whitmee said. In addition to the store,
Weekly production figures Burdekin region mills Week 3, ending 26 June 2021 Cane crushed Invicta Pioneer Kalamia Inkerman Burdekin
This week 148,626 78,089 69,194 54,098
CCS Invicta Pioneer Kalamia Inkerman Burdekin
Season to date 377,451 190,548 177,863 129,609 875,472
350,006 13.52 13.80 13.21 13.05
13.28 13.36 13.00 12.74 13.16
13.45
Weekly variety performance for region Variety % CCS Variety Q240 40 13.72 Q208 KQ228 37 13.26 Q183 12 13.50 Q232 5 13.25
% 5
CCS 12.46
Comments: Throughput for the Burdekin mills in week three was just over 350,000 tonnes. This was above budget even though wet weather again had an impact on cane supply. Inkerman Mill had a mixed week, recording both good crush rates and extended stops. Wet weather from the previous week meant crushing did not resume until Sunday night (20 June). There was a 24-hour stop due to bagasse system issues, and more rain mid-week added to the already wet ground conditions. The north bank mills experienced some cane supply shortfalls from the rain on Wednesday evening but much lower totals meant growers were able to burn and harvesters were able to get back into paddocks sooner. Harvesting operators across the district are to be commended for keeping mud levels in the cane supply low, despite the wet conditions. Average weekly CCS was 13.45. This was above budget and a good outcome given the wet conditions experienced across the region in the middle of the week. The highest CCS sample was 16.3 from a rake of Q240 Plant cane in the Invicta Mill area. John Tait Cane Supply Manager Burdekin Region
the new building houses the site’s first aid room, a training room, some offices, and amenities, including an ambulant toilet. Mr Whitmee said that after more than a year working out of temporary store facilities, both on and off site, the store team was pleased to be back in a permanent home. “The site was without a permanent store for the best part of two maintenance seasons and one whole crushing season,” he said. “Despite the many challenges that presented, everyone on site worked well together to ensure there was no significant impact on operations. “It’s a credit to the whole Proserpine team.” A site barbecue was held on Thursday, 17 June to officially open the new building and to enable employees to check out the new facilities. Proserpine Mill will start the 2021 crushing season on Tuesday (29 June).
KAP: CROC POPULATION REPORT NOT A STATE SECRET Katter Australia Party THE Palaszczuk Labor Government is feeding North Queenslanders a load of croc as it continually refuses to reveal the findings of a detailed crocodile population survey that concluded in 2019. In 2016 then-Environment Minister Steven Miles committed $5.8 million to a three-year crocodile management program that would include a “comprehensive crocodile population survey”. At the time, the Minister said the survey was urgently needed to ascertain whether crocodile numbers were increasing in Queensland. The funding immediately provided three additional FTE staff to deliver that program, rising to five staff in 2017/2018. The report was touted at the time as “the most comprehensive crocodile population survey ever in Queensland”, with data promised to be compared to figures going back as far as 1979. Despite being completed around two years ago, the report has not seen the light
of day to date. Katter’s Australia Party Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said he suspected the report was being kept under lock and key. He said it was undeniable encounters between humans and deadly estuarine saltwater crocodiles were increasing at astronomical rates in North Queensland. This includes one fatal and two serious attacks in the region earlier this year and reports of the predators moving into private properties in residential areas such as Tully Heads. “More people will die in North Queensland from crocodile attacks if the Government’s approach to this issue does not change radically,” Mr Katter said. “Saltwater crocodiles and human communities do not mix. “I find it mind-boggling that not wanting your pets, friends and family members eaten by crocs is considered radical these days.” KAP Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said the State Government was likely stalling on releasing the report as it would reveal uncomfortable truths.
“I am of the opinion that once the truth comes out, Brisbane will have to accept that crocodiles may no longer be a threatened species,” he said. “For so long, the Government have relied on the conservation narrative as an excuse to failing to act – this report could be the end of that, and they need to come clean on the real numbers.” Queensland Government representatives have previously acknowledged there has been a rapid increase in croc numbers in the North, supporting long-running anecdotal reports from locals who have been encountering the apex predators in places never seen before in their lifetimes. Mr Katter said the KAP’s
Safer Waterway Bill, which has failed to receive support from both major parties in the past, was designed to address the crocodile issues in the North. Drafted and introduced twice into the parliament by KAP Hill MP Shane Knuth, this bill would seek to centre Queensland’s crocodile management framework to Cairns. Cairns-based staff would decide on the number of crocs - which posed a safety threat – that should be culled annually (or less often if not necessary) and Indigenous groups would be enabled to host crocodile-hunting tours and allow crocodile eggs to be harvested, as is done successfully in the Northern Territory.
