Courage required to save struggling Mossman community

The far north Queensland community of Mossman is facing an uncertain future today following recommendations the region’s largest employer should be put into liquidation, but sensible action by the State Government could save the town’s economy from collapse.

With the community still reeling from the devastating impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper, local leaders are calling on the government to look to the future by stepping in to underpin the immediate survival of Mossman’s sugarcane industry.

Without action, the Mossman Bio Precinct Group will cease operating, leaving up to a third of the town’s population without jobs.

The Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner has been heavily engaged on the topic and told industry leaders today that the government had yet to decide whether it would step in to save the small far north community.

Just hours after the meeting with Minister Furner, the Administrator handed down his report in which he recommended to creditors that the company be liquidated. This recommendation will go to a vote at a creditors’ meeting on 29 February, so there is still time to find a better solution.

“The sugarcane industry and bio precinct are responsible for so much employment in the area that if they go, the town’s economy will be devastated,” CANEGROWERS Mossman Chairman Matt Watson said.

“This isn’t about saving one group of businesses or one industry, it’s about the flow-on effect. It’s about the survival of our community and the families that live here. We are all interlinked, and the collapse of the sugarcane industry will have a catastrophic knock-on effect on the whole community.

“We’re asking Minister Furner and Cabinet to take decisive action to save our town. If the government turns its back on us now, there is a very bleak future ahead for our region.”

CANEGROWERS, alongside the Australian Cane Farmers Association (ACFA), has been working closely with community, industry, and government stakeholders to find a solution that will secure the future of the region’s sugarcane industry and the community.

“We’re not asking the government to prop up an industry here,” local ACFA representative Jack Murday said. “Together, the sugarcane industry and bio precinct have the potential to carry this region into a new and exciting era, but only if we can complete the transition we began in 2019.

“Growers have already invested heavily in the 2024 crop, spending more than $14 million this year alone. And we’re willing to invest more. We just need a partner with the means and the vision to realise the potential we have here in Mossman.”