Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The sugarcane harvest is scheduled to begin in the Bundaberg and Childers districts in my electorate early in this coming month, and it is marked by more optimism than we have had around the sugar industry in more than a decade. Queensland produces 95 per cent of Australia's raw sugar, and around 85 per cent of Queensland's raw sugar is sold on the world market. The resurgence seen in the Australian sugarcane industry in recent years, driven by a burgeoning Asian market hungry for Australian sugar, is welcome news for an industry that has been belted from pillar to post by weather and poor prices in recent years.

The sugar industry is a cornerstone of many Queensland regional communities, none more so than in my electorate of Hinkler, which includes both the Millaquin and Bingera mills in Bundaberg and the Isis Central Sugar Mill at Childers. The Millaquin mill is scheduled to begin crushing on 17 or 18 June and anticipates crushing approximately 1.5 million tonnes over a 20-week period. This year the Bundaberg Sugar company has spent $15 million upgrading the facility located at East Bundaberg and has installed a new bagasse silo, a bagasse handling facility and a fifth mill train to enhance the crushing. The work has been undertaken as part of the final phase of Bundaberg Sugar's $40 million overhaul of its flagship processing plant.

Meanwhile, the Isis Central Sugar Mill is looking to create history this season by crushing a record tonnage, estimated to be 1.41 million tonnes, dependant, as always, on weather conditions. Crushing at the Isis mill is scheduled to begin on 13 June and will provide employment for the district's seasonal workers for 23 weeks. So, as you can see, there will be 20 weeks of activity at one mill and 23 weeks at the other—significant seasonal work in my electorate.

As mentioned before, the sugar industry has been battling adverse weather conditions. Last year, a lot of the sugar along the coast was knocked over in the cyclones. Other cane suffered excessive flooding. Some of it had wet feet for too long. Some of it was so soggy it could not be harvested. But this year, thankfully, especially around Bundaberg and Isis, we seem to be having better conditions all around. We have been able to handle fungal conditions over recent years. One particular disease, sugarcane smut, which was detected on a Childers farm in 2006, is now largely under control. Since then, farmers have worked hard to eradicate the disease and inhibit its return by planting smut resistant varieties of cane, including the very successful Q183 along with Q240, Q245 and Q242. The resilience of these varieties to disease, which has the potential to cause immeasurable damage to the sugar, is matched only by the resilience of the canefarmers in my electorate, who are leading citizens in our community. Many of those growers will this weekend participate in one of the state's biggest sugarcane displays, at the Gin Gin Show, which is in the neighbouring electorate of Flynn, home to my colleague the member for Flynn, Ken O'Dowd.

The sugarcane industry extends from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, along the full length of the Queensland coast, right up to Mossman at the start of the cape. It provides a tremendous amount of economic stimulus for the state. It is the core, as I said, of many rural communities and it is part of the culture of Queensland. I wish the growers and millers a very successful season.