Rich list of South Burnett’s top-earning public servants, businesses revealed
For food manufacturing companies to multi-pronged business owners, public servants and private business owners are raking in the cash across the South Burnett region. See the full list of those earning the big bucks and how much they’re worth:
South Burnett
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Public servants and private business directors and CEOs are raking in the cash across the South Burnett, with locally-based companies pulling in millions of dollars worth of revenue each year.
The South Burnett Times has sifted through public documents to find just how much public servants and major businesses across the region are bringing in each year.
Data from the 2016 Census indicate the median weekly household income in the region was $925, placing the average residents annual wage in stark contrast to the highest-ranking individuals.
See the South Burnett’s full rich list below:
Stanwell
The South Burnett’s Tarong power stations are one of Queensland's largest electricity generating sites, which along with Meandu Mine is owned by Queensland’s multi-billion dollar state-owned energy company Stanwell.
Headed by CEO Michael O’Rourke, who took charge when Richard Van Breda mysteriously stepped down after the company revealed its renewable energy ambitions last year, data collected from the Dun and Bradstreet Business Directory estimates the energy giant generates about $2.8 billion in revenue last financial year.
The Tarong Power stations opened in 1984 and are a huge source of employment in the region.
Peanut Company of Australia
Peanuts have been the bread and (peanut) butter of Kingaroy for more than a century, with Peanut Company Australia playing a central role as Australia’s leading supplier of peanuts at home and overseas.
The major company has about 1800 employees across Kingaroy, Gayndah and Tolga, with modelling estimating its annual revenue at $1.3 billion, according to Dun and Bradstreet.
The company was scooped up by the cheese giant, who already owned just under a 20 per cent stake in the company, for reportedly $12 million in 2017.
Swickers Bacon Factory
Swickers Bacon Factory is the largest employer in Kingaroy, with SunPork CEO and managing director Robert Van Barneveld one the region’s top power players.
According to the Dun and Bradstreet Business Directory lookup, Swickers alone generates about $82 million in annual revenue, while the 18 companies that make up the SunPork family and employ 500 people reel in a colossal $217,384,325 in sales according to the directory.
After a fire gutted the Swickers factory in 2016, the company commenced a $90 million rebuild before announcing a $62 million expansion that was completed in 2019 and created 200 jobs.
Crumpton & Sons
The fourth-generation farming family is a major player in both peanut and duboisia in the South Burnett and beyond.
Crumpton & Sons has a total seven employees and generates an estimated $9.3m in sales, according to the Dun and Bradstreet Business Directory.
The influential family both farm and process peanuts at their state-of-the art processing facility in Crawford, an produces an estimated 40 per cent of Australia’s peanuts.
Their other business Alkaloids of Australia oversees large plantations filled with duboisia plants, which are grown commercially for the pharmaceutical industry in and around Kingaroy.
Dusty Joe’s
Joe Prendergast, his wife Miranda and his mother Margaretha Prendergast own three businesses across the South Burnett and Gympie regions, including the famous Goomeri Bakery and Joe’s Grand Hotel in Goomeri, and Moffatdale’s Dusty Hill Vineyard.
Mr Prendergast was only 16 years old when his parents took over a vineyard overlooking the Bjelke Petersen Dam “to get away”, which today makes up one third of Dusty Joe’s Pty Ltd’s estimated $10,194,061 in annual revenue, according to Dun and Bradstreet.
In 2021 Dusty Hill was subject to a $6.5 million expansion, which included a distillery, restaurant, motel and cabins to the popular tourist spot.
Kewpie Stockfeeds
Recently taken over by local graziers Paul and Delvene Woltmann, the Kingaroy-based agricultural company Kewpie Group brings in an estimated $11,143,354 in revenue per year according to Dun and Bradstreet.
The Animal Food Manufacturing organisation, which employs 55 people, consists of Kewpie Stockfeeds, Kewpie Pig Enterprises as well as Kewpie Steel Fabrication.
PUBLIC
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington and Member for Callide Colin Boyce
Deb Frecklington was elected to the Queensland Parliament in 2012, rising to become the leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland before resigning as the party’s head honcho in 2020.
Further north, Colin Boyce has been the Liberal National Party member for Callide in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017, previously serving as a councillor on Taroom Shire Council between 2005 and 2008.
According to the Review of Base and Additional Salary Levels of Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for 2021, state politicians receive an annual base salary of $159,122.
State members can then receive from an additional $24,083 for being a member of a parliament committee.
Magistrate Andrew Sinclair
Magistrate Andrew Sinclair was brought onto the South Burnett judicial circuit in 2020, replacing magistrate Louisa Pink who had managed the area for two years.
Mr Sinclair was first admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1989 before being engaged on the Fitzgerald Inquiry and working as a crown prosecutor at the Special Prosecutors Office.
Documents from the Department of Justice and the Attorney-General revealed the base salary for a Queensland magistrate is $368,332 per annum.
This figure leaps to $389,711 for a District Court judge and $433,012 for judges presiding over a Supreme Court.
South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto
South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto took home $133,125.60 in earnings according to the council’s annual report for the 2020-21 financial year and racked up $4221.74 in expenses during the financial year.
Cr Otto took over as the region’s top dog in 2020 following a nailbiting election, after working for many years as a business owner and practising public accountant in the region.
The accountant turned-Mayor has since led the region through two tough years of the Covid pandemic and overseen several controversial decisions from council, including recently the increased budget for the Kingaroy Transformation project.
South Burnett Regional Council executives
The South Burnett Regional Council’s executive team is a four-person powerhouse, made up of CEO Mark Pitt, general manager of finance and corporate Susan Jarvis, general manager of infrastructure Aaron Meehan, and General Manager Community Peter O’May.
According to the council’s annual report for the 2020-21 financial year, the salary band for the council’s senior executive employees and CEO sits at a very comfortable $200,000 - $299,000 per annum.
Mr Pitt has been working in local government for over two decades, taking on his current position after resigning as CEO of the North Burnett Regional Council in 2018.
In 2019 the CEO was awarded a Public Service Medal for his decades of work.
South Burnett councillors
Elected representatives the South Burnett Regional Council Roz Frohloff, Danita Potter, Kirstie Schumacher, Kathy Duff and Scott Henschen each took home $70,721.66 in the 2020-21 financial year.
As Deputy Mayor, Gavin Jones’ remuneration came in a touch higher at $81,615.04.
The six councillors also incurred a total $11,587.26 in expenses for professional development, training and conferences, accommodation, meals and incidentals.
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