Bob Katter pitches weir and cane juice pipeline project to save mill

A radical plan involving a pipeline to save the Mossman Mill and secure the long-term future of about 4000 jobs tied to the sugar cane industry has been endorsed by a fifth generation grower.

Mossman sugar mill in Far North Queensland was placed into liquidation on March 22, 2024. Picture: Far Northern Milling

A radical plan to grow sugar in the Mount Carbine area and pipe cane juice to the Mossman Mill has been pitched as a long-term solution to financial woes which sent the state’s northernmost sugar mill into liquidation.

Mossman Mill entered administration last November and despite desperate pleas for a government bailout package, it’s feared the mill will not operate this season.

The mill was placed into liquidation on March 22.

The backing out of a mystery investor in the factory and $12.1m in state government cash earmarked to help workers and growers transition into other industries has created a dire situation whereby $15m worth of cane is at risk of rotting in the ground if the mill fails to fire up later this year. 

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

With limited cropping land close to the mill resulting in poor sugar production volumes, Kennedy MP Bob Katter has proposed the harvesting of water from the Mitchell River and the opening up of arable cane farming land at Maryfarms between Mount Carbine and Mount Molloy.

Under the plan, a weir on the Mitchell River would irrigate the crop spanning 10,000ha that would then be fed into a $25m front-end processing plant.

The sugar slurry would be then sent down the hill via a $23m pipeline to the mill.

“(If the mill closes) four thousand incomes are going to vanish, direct and indirect employment in the sugar industry based at Mossman Mill will be gone,” Mr Katter said.

“The future lies on the Mitchell River … you could farm all the way to Kowanyama if you wanted to.

Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has released a long-term plan to save the Mossman Mill. Picture: Evan Morgan

“We’ll get the balance of power (at the next election) and we’ll see this weir, pipeline and front-end mill built.”

Mr Katter claimed up to an extra one million tonnes of cane could be processed by the Mossman Mill under the plan, which would build a case for value adding with by-products like ethanol and electricity.

Fifth generation Mossman cane grower Jack Murday, in the absence of any other solution so far, backed Mr Katter’s plan.

“The good thing about it, and the thing I like about Bob is he is very forward thinking with bigger picture solutions and this is the kind of project the state needs to invest in,” he said.

“There’s no feasibility work that’s been done on this, it’s a great idea but that’s all it is at the moment.”

The Australian Cane Farmers Association chair said he personally stood to lose up to $1m already invested in his sugarcane crop.

He said trucking cane to MSF mills at Gordonvale and Arriga was not financially viable and the only option was for the Mossman Mill to crush the 2024 crop.

“If it does not come off the majority of farming families will be in serious financial trouble,” he said. 

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Originally published as Bob Katter pitches weir and cane juice pipeline project to save mill