$12.1m in funding to help growers get out of cane industry

Support to help mill workers find new jobs including training and upskilling courses will now be funded through a $12.1m transition program following the liquidation of the town’s historic mill.

About 50 Mossman and Douglas Shire residents held a demonstration out the front of a community cabinet meeting in Cairns in February advocating for the government to step in and offer the Mossman mill a lifeline. It prompted Premier Steven Miles to announce a $12m package. Picture: Supplied

Support to help mill workers find new jobs including training and upskilling courses will now be funded through the $12.1m Mossman Region Transition Program following the liquidation of the town’s historic mill.

Administrator John Goggin of Worrells announced the winding up of the beleaguered sugar milling company on Friday, after parent company Daintree Bio Precinct entered voluntary administration last November.

All hopes of keeping the mill afloat, keeping mill workers in jobs and securing a $14m investment by growers in the 2024 crushing season were dashed when a mystery investor pulled the pin on the deal.

Liquidation of the Mossman Mill was announced on Friday, March 22 2024.

The previously announced $12.1m support package was earmarked to either assist a potential buyer for the mill or finance a transition away from the sugar growing and milling industry.

Mossman Canegrowers chair Matt Watson said depending on the sugar price, growers were sitting on cane worth $60m that would likely rot in the field if the mill didn’t fire up in 2024.

“The government has made a lot of promises but they have not handed over anything yet and I don’t know how they are going to make $12m spread through the community,” he said.

Mr Watson said if the mill didn’t operate there was the possibility of trucking cane to MSF-run mills at Arriga or Gordonvale, but it was unclear if that option would be financially viable.

Canegrowers Mossman representative Matt Watson said growers had been paying a $2 per tonne sustainability levy. Picture: Supplied

On his series of farms, Mr Watson said he has invested more than $1m in fertiliser and diesel to plant the crop.

He remained optimistic that an investor would buy the mill and operate the factory in 2024 but at the same time he had considered his future if the Far North Milling assets were sold off to pay creditors.

“I’m a fitter and turner by trade and I will just have to go out and get a job like everyone else,” he said.

Creditors include 124 mill workers who are owed wages and $1.2m in unpaid superannuation and $2.3m is owed to the Australian National Bank.

Mossman Mill workers are owed wages and $1.2m in unpaid superannuation. Picture: Far North Milling

Immediate actions to be funded through the transition program include formation of the Mossman Region Stakeholder Advisory Committee and work on a regional transition opportunities study.

An information session will also be held to help growers get out of the industry, which will be held on Wednesday, March 27 at the Port Douglas Community Hall from 10am.

“We will bring together all the service providers who can help mill workers transition into new jobs, access training and upskilling and gain counselling support,” State Development and Infrastructure Minister Grace Grace said.

Canegrowers chief executive Dan Galligan urged the $12.1m bailout package be used to help farmers recoup the millions of dollars that’s been sunk into this year’s crop.

“Otherwise a lot of families and businesses in the town will go to the wall,” he said.

Far North Milling has previously received $47.9m in state and federal government funding.

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Originally published as $12.1m in funding to help growers get out of cane industry