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Week commencing Thursday, 3 August | 2017 | Edition 887
13750 copies delivered weekly
www.freetimes.com.au
Latest on the Saleyards
Jumpers and Jazz wraps up
Rotaract helps mums and bubs
Sarah steps up styling
PAGE 3
PAGES 4-5
PAGE 8
PAGE 9
Jobs beef up
Couple’s call to ‘save our bacon’
12350615-JV18-17
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Karara farmers Belinda Marriage and husband Tim Rudduck have vowed to fight on after a council decision to approve an explosives disposal site next door to their free-range farm...more on page 3...
12337809-CG04-17 1237558-PB31-16
New jobs and job security - that’s the bottom line of a major funding announcement this week for Warwick’s biggest employer, the John Dee export beef abattoir. The Federal Government this week allocated $4.97 million in funding for a new ‘Regional Cold Storage’ (RCS) facility, which has an overall cost of $15m and construction of which is due to start in September. Member for Maranoa David Littleproud announced the massive boost at the plant last Monday, describing it as his “biggest win” for the Southern Downs in his first 12 months in the job. The facility will enable the abattoir to streamline product handling, and is expected to create 150 new local jobs, in addition to John Dee’s existing workforce of 630, along with 80 new ‘indirect’ jobs along the John Dee producer supply chain. The new facility will alleviate chilled and frozen beef product handling and storage “bottlenecks” within the plant, allowing processing areas to operate more efficiently and to increase overall production, with a focus remaining on processing of “high value” Wagyu and long-fed Angus cattle for export. “The Darling Downs is well-renowned as having the highest concentration of feedlots in Australia, and is an intensive region for beef cattle production in the country,” Mr Littleproud said.
“This RCS infrastructure is required to overcome a critical bottleneck that exists in the region’s beef supply chain, and will result in further business investment in the region. “This investment is not only a vote of confidence in the Southern Downs community, but also builds diversity to our economic base to build resilience.” John Dee CEO Warren Stiff acknowledged the assistance of the Southern Downs Regional Council in putting together the company’s application for the federal funding. The new cold storage facility will be build on-site adjacent to the existing plant and will be linked by overhead conveyor systems, with new product handling robotics currently being installed in the product packaging area of the abattoir. Southern Downs Mayor Tracy Dobie welcomed the funding announcement. “From council’s point of view, this $15 million project is an enormous boon for our region,” Cr Dobie said. “150 new jobs are expected to come out of this redevelopment, along with the creation of a state-of-the art facility. “Council’s Economic Impact model suggests that the 150 new jobs will generate an additional 187 jobs in the wider economy, which is why projects of this type are important in regional towns like Warwick,“ she said. Continued on page 2
12326307-PB41-16
By Jeremy Sollars
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