Jim Turnour (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about the Mossman Mill and low GI sugar cane. The launch today of a low GI cane was a world first. Low GI sugar that you can buy in a bag from Coles or Woolies across Australia is made and produced in Mossman in Far North Queensland, which is part of my electorate. It is an example of world-class science and world-class innovation in a tropical environment in Far North Queensland. Not only is it healthy but it is sustainable, it has come from a fantastic part of the world and it will make your life much better in the longer term. We have seen increasing problems with diabetes and obesity in this country, and this product will enable people to get a natural, healthy product that they can substitute for sugar. It is a sugar, but it is a low GI sugar, and it is a world first.

I was there today with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke. It was fantastic for him to come and launch it. Also there today were Bill Phillips-Turner, the chair of the mill, and the scientists who worked on the low GI cane. It is a great innovation for tropical North Queensland. It will produce jobs and it will support our local economy. We need to have new innovations, new value adding, in areas such as sugar cane, and this is a great innovation for our region and for the nation. I commend it to everybody tonight to encourage local people to get into it as well.