Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk today about a very important institution in my local community, the Northern Co-operative Meat Company. It is based in Casino and it is recognised as one of Australia's leading red meat food processors. It has more than 1,500 livestock producer shareholders, who provide great produce and have their produce processed at the cooperative's processing facilities at either Casino or Booyong. It also has over 1,000 employers, which is very important to my community. Two of them, David Forrester and Ray McMahon, retired from the Northern Co-operative Meat Company earlier this year after a combined 99 years of service. David worked in the boning room for 54 years, and Ray worked for the local co-op for 45 years. I would like to congratulate both men and thank them for their contribution—they should be proud of that contribution. The meatworks is a great institution in our community. As I said, it is one of our region's largest employers. It employs over 1,000 people directly and is responsible for many more indirect jobs. It ships locally produced meat around the country and, indeed, around the world. Nearly 70 per cent of its product is exported, providing great wealth to not only our local community but our country.

In 2013, Casino teenager Erin Riggall won ABC's Heywire with her entry entitled Our meatworks is something we should be proud of, not ridicule. She said that some in our community have a stigma about working at the meatworks. Neither Erin nor I think that stigma is justified. Both of Erin's parents work at the meatworks and her sister works there part time to finance her studies. Erin said:

I see the meatworks as a provider of jobs and money for the people and farmers in Casino and the surrounding towns.

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You are expected to know hundreds of cuts of meat from memory, lift from 18 kilograms up to 30 kilograms of meat repeatedly resulting in lifting up to 2 tonnes of meat during one day of work and cope with the endless red sea of meat heading towards you.

So, as you can see, it is a job of skill and importance to our community and the product provides much wealth not only to our community but also to our country. The beef producers who provide the great product, the shareholders of the co-op and the staff who work there can all walk tall, knowing the importance of the role they play and the benefits the organisation brings our community.