David Fawcett (Wakefield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to draw the attention of this parliament to one of the success stories in the electorate of Wakefield, which, whilst successful, is today going through a very difficult time. I am talking about the Port Wakefield Primo abattoir, which is one of the two major pig processing plants in South Australia. Over the last five years, this plant has grown in scale, complexity and quality of its operation. It now employs around 370 full-time employees, who have developed a high-level set of skills to meet the demanding requirements of Coles, one of their major customers for packaged pork products.

Port Wakefield has been identified by the company as a critical site for their operations. What a lot of people in the agricultural industry have found is that outer metropolitan areas very quickly get outgrown and pressures come upon them, so they look for regional sites where they have the ability to make long-term investments which are not going to get crowded out. With the signing of a 10-year contract with Coles, Primo has seen fit to invest in Port Wakefield and, importantly, in the community there. It is not only the people who work in the abattoir but also local growers. In Wakefield we have a number of people who breed pigs, as well as grain growers and others who provide that whole market. A large part of the community contributes to this company and to its success, including in exports. The company exports to Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea, and those exports are expected to increase.

I have to report to the parliament that this weekend the slaughterhouse in the abattoir burnt internally and, essentially, to the ground. There was also damage to the boning room, which is the part that really value-adds in terms of processing the pig. The good part of this is that the company, in their very professional manner, had very good safety precautions and procedures in place. Despite the devastating nature of the fire, there were certainly no fatalities and even no injuries or people hurt, because their evacuation procedures went smoothly.

For Mark Viney, the manager on the site, it has been a very full weekend as he has sought to assess the damage and to work through what their options are. Because of the danger of gases that remained in the site, it was only yesterday afternoon, in fact, as I arrived to meet with him, that he had access to the plant for the first time. They went in to try and assess what the damage was and what the options were for the company. What impressed me was the very high degree of awareness that the management had for their workforce.

One of the things that impresses me about this company is that they recognise that their success as a company has come about because of the commitment and the willingness of their staff to upskill and train to the point where they have a world-leading export processing company. That is due to the workers. The commitment of the management to understand the implications of this disaster not only for their company but also for their workforce is to be commended.

We had a follow-up meeting this morning where the workers came to hear from the owners, Mark and the other managers at the plant as to what the future holds. Because they have only recently been able to get assessors and other people in, there is a lot that is unclear at the moment. But one of the things that struck me today was the applause and support that the owners and Mark got from the workforce as they spoke. It shows that they have managed that company and brought it to a standard of excellence which the workers have a real stake in and a real sense of ownership toward. At the meeting today, we had Centrelink there, as well as representatives from the state and local governments and the regional development board. We have given an undertaking to work together to find the best possible way that we can work with this company to make sure that not only Primo but also the community who has supported and built that company has a future in Wakefield.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 9.30 pm, the debate is interrupted.