PRODUCERS have decided a meatworks must be established in the North West to help the industry transition away from live exports but the most-suited town for the facility remains under contention.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Key figures from Cloncurry and Hughenden have both been vocal supporters of the proposal to build a facility and are now butting heads over which town would make the ideal location to produce chilled and boxed beef.
Cloncurry mayor Andrew Daniels said he didn't care where a meatworks was established as long as one was built.
He said the Curry had sufficient power supply to run a meatworks and was strategically placed at three intersecting highways that made transport of chilled beef a supported industry.
"The Flinders Highway, the Landsborough Highway, the Barkly Highway and the road to the Gulf all meet in the Curry," he said.
"The fact that Cloncurry has all the freezer vans going back through the Territory for produce gives you a complete back load rate with boxed meat," he said.
"From Hughenden you'd have to cart it back to Townsville and put it on a boat to Brisbane or truck it across to Winton."
Flinders Shire mayor Gregory Jones said Hughenden would be more central to the supply of cattle likely to go through a meatworks in the north west considering the Australian Agriculture Company (AACo) was constructing an abattoir in Darwin to account for all the cattle currently over-supplying the market in the Northern Territory.
Cr Jones said his town had less competing industries and was a transport hub.
"There is more cattle from Charters Towers to the border than Cloncurry would be able to supply for and with all the mining, supplying labour for the different companies within the different industries will be a challenge for them," he said.
"The Flinders AgPrecinct is close by so you can access all the feed you would need to fatten the cattle and the agents won't travel as far as Cloncurry so the access for cattle buyers from Longreach and Barcaldine is better.
Cr Jones said his council was also willing to bend over backwards to supply the necessary low-cost housing needed to set up a meatworks that would bring employment to the town.
A lack of labour was one issue Cr Daniels said would need to be addressed if the facility was opened in his shire.
The Curry may have one more point to strengthen their case after the Australian Government's new $1.5 billion Remote Jobs and Communities Program (RJCP) announced MaxNetwork Pty Ltd and subcontractors Beyond Billabong Pty Ltd and Rainbow Gateway Ltd would be providing services to ensure Cloncurry locals are ready to take up local jobs.