Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk about chickens—but not just any chickens. These are chickens that have been air chilled—and not just air chilled but air chilled through a process that is fuelled by renewable energy.

Government Member:

That is wonderful.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is indeed. I want to talk about Nichols Poultry at Sassafras, which is in my electorate. I have seen personally in Sassafras that if you put a toenail in the ground it will grow a foot. It is so fertile, so beautiful and so green. On Friday, 9 May, I had the privilege to be invited to Sassafras, where my former colleague, now the minister for the environment in Tasmania, Michelle O’Byrne, actually commissioned a Vestas 225-kilowatt wind turbine. Nichols Poultry have used the wind turbine to fuel their process, particularly the air chilled process. It is not just for chickens; it is also for turkeys. I can tell you that because they were kind enough to give me one of these chickens, unsolicited—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have 10 days or so to declare this excellent chicken. Just listen to this for a mission statement for a company, in the words of Mr Robert Nichols:

Nichols Poultry has an ongoing commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and preserving natural resources by harnessing the wind to produce our energy requirements. Nichols Poultry aims to be Australia’s leading environmentally sustainable poultry producer through the completion of our wind turbine project.

I think that is a fantastic mission statement for any business, let alone the premier poultry business in Australia.

Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Melham interjecting

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know you will be interested in this. They started operating 20 years ago as a farm cottage industry, originally supplying fresh turkeys for Wrest Point Casino. Since those early days, it has progressed to become Tasmania’s only premium producer of air chilled poultry. This unique process of air chilling helps to produce chicken meat so that you can taste the difference. Now it is the preferred choice of Tasmania’s consumers—so much so that it has enabled the company to grow to supply 25 per cent of fresh poultry sales annually in Tasmania. They now employ 40 full-time employees and they support many subcontractors in my community. Going to the premises of Nichols Poultry truly is a clean, green experience. It is a beautiful place, very clean, air chilled, as you could imagine, and of course we now have this magnificent wind turbine which you can see from the great Bass Highway, which has recently been completed. Indeed, I was happy to announce the final $42 million phase of construction recently. And I got to get my name on a plaque, which is really good! But, anyway, here is the wind turbine from a distance—a great example to others as to how to use renewable energy.

What I found really interesting was that the invitation to attend the opening of the turbine—it is a lovely invitation and I will no doubt copy the concept of it myself—was based on a coloured painting of the Nichols family farm in Harby in the UK, and there of course was the windmill. It was the inspiration to Robert Nichols and his family to put in a wind turbine. They went to Denmark and dismantled it and brought it over. With just their local knowledge they put this wind tower up. Now not only does it produce enough energy for their business but also it has power going into the Tasmanian grid. It really is a great story. The other great thing about the family’s business is that they have a great concern for occupational health and safety and they have a wonderful quality assurance program and believe in the training of their staff. They are an excellent model of business and an excellent corporate citizen in their community and, of course, they are helping with the environment. I thank them for their kind invitation—it was very enlightening for me. One particular thing they do is invite local schools to come in. They have done projects around wind energy and the science of it and shared that with the schools. They come out and look at the other processes involved in the business. Nichols Poultry is a first-rate business and I thoroughly recommend it. Of course, they live in the beautiful area of Sassafras. It is a great privilege to tell their story.