Australian Country Choice could pull out of Qld amid ongoing stoush with BMI over Rivermakers

A major Queensland operator employing more than 1000 people is considering abandoning the state amid a worsening stoush over the industrial future of prime waterfront land in Brisbane.

A major Queensland meatworks employing more than 1000 people is considering abandoning the state amid a worsening stoush over the industrial future of prime waterfront land in Brisbane.

It has prompted a union to sound the alarm, saying the issue was now “critical” and jobs were being put at risk by Brisbane City Council — and the state government too if it doesn’t do more.

Australian Country Choice, owned by the powerful Lee family, have been in an ongoing development tit-for-tat with business heavyweight BMI Group and its Rivermakers lifestyle precinct at Cannon Hill.

Sections of the stoush between ACC and BMI Group — owned by fellow richlister Balfour Irvine — has been through the courts with the state government intervening with a temporary planning injunction that restricts what council can approve in the area.

But ACC remains concerned urban encroachment is threatening its “long-term viability”.

ACC chief executive Anthony Lee confirmed the company was now “exploring options” to invest in New South Wales rather than pour hundreds of millions into a site that could become unviable.

Australian Country Choice boss Anthony Lee. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Balfour Irvine at the Rivermakers site in Morningside. Picture: Richard Walker

“Brisbane City Council continues to allow incompatible development within the industrial buffer zone near our Cannon Hill meat processing facility,” he said.

“We employ more than 1000 people at Cannon Hill and hundreds more on farms across Queensland, and suburban development puts all those jobs at risk.”

Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union QLD branch secretary Matt Journeaux said the exit of ACC from Queensland would have “devastating consequences” for workers and called on council, and the state government, to sort it out.

“The development over the road (from ACC) was supposed to be an industrial estate and for some reason or another it’s morphed into something completely different and council is turning a blind eye to it,” he said.

Rivermakers site in Morningside, Tuesday, November 2, 2021 – Picture: Richard Walker

A spokeswoman for council said it would be bound by the temporary injunction put in by the state government, known as a TLPI, and was working with businesses in the Rivermakers precinct on “compliance issues”.

But council also called the planning injunction “extraordinary” and said it had been borne from a “single complaint”.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles pointed to council to “provide some certainty”, signalling the state would continue to review decisions that could put jobs at risk.

“Council has been reviewing its industrial strategy for a year and had indicated that work would be finalised by the end of 2021. We urge them to complete that review as quickly as possible,” he said.

A spokesman for BMI said the company understood the “importance” of existing local industries, including the meatworks, while also pointing to the more than 1000 jobs Rivermakers had already helped create along with the “economic benefits to the city” it was providing.