CQ Industry

CQ INDUSTRY 21

THEMORNINGBULLETIN.COM.AU THURSDAY MARCH 12 2020

SHOWCASING THE PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF INDUSTRY IN CQ | MARCH 12, 2020

CQ Industry

Employing sustainably - P23 BILOELA

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Bringing in cane SOMETIMES I think agriculture is more like a family than an industry – for example, word travels so very quickly.

By now, many Central Queensland primary producers will have heard that AgForce members are being asked to consider adding sugar cane as our fourth commodity.

This follows a request from Burdekin-based Invicta Combined Growers Organisation for us to consider allowing its members to join AgForce.

Although we were genuinely surprised and humbled by ICGO’s request, we can see the value it might offer to our members, and potentially to the agriculture industry.

So, we are asking for the views of our members, and Invicta is doing the same with its.

We deliver to:

conversation.

What we already know is that our respective commodities share similar challenges and opportunities.

We hope this issue will bring the agriculture industry closer together.

After all, when we speak with a single, strong voice, we are so much more powerful.

Obviously, no-one knows yet how this conversation will end.

In the meantime, I am proud that we belong to an industry where we can have full, frank and confronting discussions all year and still sit down to Christmas dinner as good friends.

- AgForce general president Georgie Somerset

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This is a major topic for both organisations – and for industry generally – and we anticipate the full spectrum of issues and opinions to be raised.

Our members are already starting to state their views, which is great – that’s what we want.

This is the beginning of a conversation that may, at times, be difficult but one I think the agriculture industry will be the better for having.

The cane industry – including its major peak body Canegrowers and the communities which have been built on sugar – will clearly be included in this conversation.

AgForce has already been in touch with sugar industry stakeholders to explain our response to the ICGO proposal and our intention to include them in the process – a constructive

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CQ INDUSTRY 23

THEMORNINGBULLETIN.COM.AU THURSDAY MARCH 12 2020

BIG YEAR: In just one year, Manuplex filled its industrial sized warehouse with equiptment, projects and staff.

Making miners PROVIDING sustainable employment models is a driving value behind Rockhampton-based mining service provider Manuplex, says co-founder and director, Matt Jurkic.

The mining services company focuses on the underground metallurgical coal sector, providing ventilation for underground mining among a range of other services.

The value is exemplified at the beginning with the unique recruitment ‘clean skin program’.

“We take unskilled miners and over a 12-month period, we progress them into experienced miners,” Mr Jurkic said.

“It’s good for our clients, and it’s good for

Rockhampton.”

He said by assessing ratios onsite and working with clients the company could assist the mining sector with clean skins, providing sustainable additions to the limited Rockhampton talent pool. After year on year growth over the past nine years, even riding out the downturn, Manuplex’s employment formula appears to be working.

“We saw it as a long-term plan, we didn’t want to be robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Mr Jurkic said.

“We noticed there is a small talent pool and we wanted to be self-sufficient.

“We back ourselves that we can mentor, supervise and take an unskilled person with a

good attitude to build our workforce up.

“If we’re not doing it, we’re not adding anything more to the sector – we’re taking from the sector.”

Perhaps the best indication that the initiative is paying off in spades is the rapid expansion of the Rockhampton warehouse which was a shell this time last year – now it is packed with workstations, equipment and staff.

Three apprentices work at the Rockhampton warehouse site while numerous others work onsite.

Mr Jurkic said the company was enthused by the confidence of its clientele who supported the cleanskin program with some transitioning to permanent roles with the mine owner.

“That comes from trust and positive experiences,” he said.

Exceeding the realm of possibilities offered by

the mining sector, the newly formed construction and civil arm of the business services the likes of Rockhampton Regional Council and aims to acquire upcoming Shoalwater Bay tenders.

According to the company’s website, its resources are distributed with 65 per cent in mining, 20 per cent in ventilation, and 15 per cent in manufacturing.

Manuplex’s workforce will peak at about 60 permanent employees servicing three top-tier CQ mines in the ventilation and mining maintenance space including overhauls.

Mr Jurkic hoped the work of Manuplex, as well as other local incentives, would make Rockhampton an attractive place for those wanting to enter the mining industry.

“I want to promote Rockhampton as a hub – I really want people to come and live here,” he said.

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THURSDAY MARCH 12 2020 THEMORNINGBULLETIN.COM.AU

Champ’s one stop shop THE BUSINESS MODEL MAKING IT HARD FOR CLIENTS TO LOOK ELSEWHERE SCOTT Chapman crossed the border Central Queensland-bound in the mid-90s from his hometown in Orange to start work with a labour hire company.

Before he knew it, he had started his own.

Today the product of his endeavours has been realised in the form of Gracemere-based company Champ Resources.

For Mr Chapman, the branches of his company have spread far from its labour hire roots.

While still offering labour hire across Australia, Champ Resources has become a broad church of available services.

In his Gracemere industrial estate shed, it would be commonplace to find Mr Chapman and his staff juggling repairs on cattle trailers with maintenance on hydraulic hoses from the saleyards.

Facility maintenance, NDIS installations, rail wagon repairs and contract welding are also among the array of services the company offers industry in Central Queensland.

And it was a mix of passion and clients’ needs which prompted the businessman to undergo the diversification.

“I’ve got a trade background and that’s really where I should have been from the get-go,” Mr Chapman said.

“It’s all about the vendor numbers. If we can be a builder, supply fabrication, installations, do their hydraulics – they only need one vendor.”

Mr Chapman said the labour hire foundations also had its benefits within the company.

“By having the labour hire behind us can feed into what we do,” he said.

“It cuts a lot of the cost out for the clients which we’re all about.”

Nestled in the Gracemere industrial estate, Champ Resources is the neighbour one could only dream of, offering services and support for other businesses in the estate.

The Gracemere location also positions his business well to service the west.

As for upcoming major projects, Mr Chapman was willing to wait and see if the work would come to him.

“We’ve got our name in there, but so does every man and his dog,” he said.

Champ Resources currently holds the contract for site and facility maintenance at a Bowen Basin mine with about 150 employees based on that job alone.

The company has also opened shop in Mackay to better position itself for clients further north.

“We’ve always had work up there, so it made sense to open an office,” Mr Chapman said.

DIVERSE: Scott Chapman from Champ Resources at his office and shed in the Gracemere Industrial Estate.

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CQ INDUSTRY 25

THEMORNINGBULLETIN.COM.AU THURSDAY MARCH 12 2020

THE FACTS: * January 2019: Environment Minister Leeaeanne Enoch presented with a plaque recognsising her ongoing commitment to the Cane Changer program. * February 2019: The Enviornment Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill is introduced to State Parliament. * March 2019: In a submission to a parliamentary committee on the Reef Bill, Canegrowers highlights the broad powers to the public service to change minimum cane farming standards in any way at any time with no regard for impacts on growers or their communities. *April 2019: Canegrowers argues that the Bill proposes a grab for sugar industry data and a future landscape of ever-shifting farm regulation. * May 2019: Not one amendment is recommended for the Reef Protection Bill by the Committee. * August 2019: Release of the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation concludes that the greatest threat to the Reef is climate change. * September 2019: Release of the Reef Water Quality Report Card by the Queensland Government. * October 2019: With the passing of the legislation a new set of Reef regulations start to be drawn up. * December 2019: Reef regulations become law. * March 2020: Public hearings to be held on the 17, 18 and 19 March for a Senate Enquiry.

REEF REGS: Reef regulations imposed by the State Government have the Queensland cane farming sector up in arms.

Picture: Erika Fish

Cane farmers slam DAF over reef regulations MEL FRYKBERG A WAR of words has erupted between Queensland farmers and representatives of the State Government over reef regulations.

Tensions were palpable during a meeting between cane farmers and a representative of the Deparment of Enviroment and Science during last week’s Plane Creek Area Committee’s annual information meeting in Sarina over new reef regulations and the mechanics of implementing them on farms.

A report by the Queensland Government and James Cook University outlined how pollutants from the cane and grazing industries polluted sub-catchment areas which eventually ran into the Great Barrier Reef.

During Friday’s meeting, Scott Robinson from the Department of Environment and Science told the gathering of cane farmers that although damage

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to the Great Barrier Reef had been reduced by efforts taken, more needed to be done.

But chairman of the Plane Creek Area Committee Kevin Borg said the holes in the regulations were big enough to drive a truck through and accused the government of failing to recognise the efforts already undertaken by farmers.

“The Queensland Government is not recognising the positive progress being made by cane growers,” Mr Borg said.

“The industry has made big inroads and now boasts a healthy 30 per cent of all cane growing throughout the state accredited under the Smartcane Best Management Practice program.

“Unfortunately, those making the regulations fail to recognise that cane growing is not an occupation where one size fits all.

“It takes years of experience for a farmer to be able to take advantage of local weather and farming conditions to grow a good crop.”

Mr Borg said the reef regulations were

unnecessary and impractical, the big stick approach would never work and that putting incentives in place would assist growers to make changes faster for the benefit of farming productivity and the environment.

But he said the regulations were the law and farmers would continue to work to implement them.

But Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch maintains the reforms will help reduce sediment pollution of the water in the catchment areas and improve the health and quality of the Reef.

Australian Marine Conservation Society CEO Imogen Zethoven said the laws were “the right response to the scientific consensus” about agricultural run-off damaging inshore ecosystems.

Declines in the coastal ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef have been linked with increases in the land-based runoff of suspended sediments and nutrients and the addition of herbicides since

European settlement.

The 2013 Scientific Consensus Statement noted there was strong evidence that improving catchment water quality would increase the resilience of the Reef and associated ecosystems, buying some time by partially off-setting the increasing damage and stress from climate factors.

Canegrowers must keep detailed soil tests and records of fertiliser and chemical use in order to minimise run-off.

About 14,000 farmers across the state, including 4500 canegrowers, have been impacted by the regulations.

The Department of Agriculture has committed $53.36 million to the Australian Government Reef Program.

The Australian and Queensland governments established the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan in 2003 to halt and reverse the decline in the quality of the water entering the GBR lagoon.

LOCAL TIPS: Helen Whitmore and Jennifer Bourke volunteers at the Gladstone Visitor Information Centre.

Tips from the locals

THERE is no shortage of things to see and do in Gladstone and surrounding regions.

Gladstone Area Promotion Development Limited and Shell QGC’s Living Like a Local feature aims to celebrate these hidden gems and encourage more people to get out and explore what the region has to offer.

In this edition, it features Jennifer Bourke and Helen Whitmore, volunteers at the Gladstone Visitor Information Centre.

In this Q and A, Jennifer shares how she likes to live, work and play like a local.

Jennifer’s tips: What brought you to the Gladstone region?

I was born at Gladstone Hospital and started school at Our Lady Star of the Sea. What three attributes do you think makes someone a Gladstone local?

To promote and enjoy the region that we live in.

What is it about the Gladstone region which makes you smile?

Friendly people and great places to visit.

What surprises you most about the region?

Plenty to do and lots of sport for the young to do on the weekends.

Tell us how you like to spend your downtime.

Where do you like to go; what do you like to do?

Volunteering at the visitor information centre.

What is your favourite local, hidden gem that you don’t mind sharing with us?

I just love Barney Point as I went there as a young girl to enjoy the beautiful beach.

What’s on your local bucket list?

Kroombit Tops.

What is your favourite Gladstone ‘hack’?

Fish and chips at the marina and gardening.

Can you share some tips for getting involved/out and about?

There is always an association you can become involved in.

What’s your advice for someone who may be new to the area to get to know it better?

Go and see the information centre people and they will give you all the information you need to know about the region.

What is your fondest memory of living locally?

The great climate we have and so much about playing as a kid, growing up and great changes I have seen in the town.

Helen’s Tips: What brought you to the Gladstone region?

I belong to an old Gladstone family (Rigby). The Rigby family was involved in starting hockey in Gladstone. My father (Sam) and grandfather (Joe) were granted life memberships.

What three attributes do you think makes someone a Gladstone local?

To become involved in community and learn about what Gladstone has to offer.

What is it about the Gladstone region which makes you smile?

Harbour, the weather and the sea breeze!

What surprises you most about the region?

A variety of all of the services that are available to suit everyone, e.g. the library and garden tours.

Tell us how you like to spend your downtime?

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LIVING LIKE A LOCAL

Pictures: Contributed

Volunteering at the visitor information centre and also volunteering when the cruise ships come in.

What is your favourite local, hidden gem that you don’t mind sharing with us?

Kroombit Tops - beautiful Beautiful Betsy, Boyne Valley – Boyne Island, 1770/Agnes Water, Awoonga Dam. What’s on your local bucket list?

To spend more time at 1770/Agnes Waters.

What is your favourite Gladstone ‘hack’?

Fish and chips at the marina.

Can you share some tips for getting involved/out and about?

Become involved in associations that you are interested in and talk to the people.

What’s your advice for someone who may be new to the area to get to know it better?

Use all of the resources that are available to your needs and requirements.

What is your fondest memory of living locally?

The changes that have been made to improve our city, thanks to the industry!

SUPPORTING OUR REGION LOCALS ARE KEY TO OUR SUCCESS If the local faces here look familiar, then it’s for good reason. You’ve likely bumped into Ray and Lily Pascoe out and about in Gladstone and, if you love adrenalin watersports, they can be found kite surfing at our region’s beaches.

The father and daughter duo are among the 250 locals who safety operate and maintain Shell’s QGC liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Curtis Island. Ray is our Production Manager; and Lily is a third-year electrical and instrumentation apprentice, one of 18 locals currently completing apprenticeships or traineeships at our LNG facility.

When we say our Shell QGC team work, live and play in Gladstone, this is who we mean.

For more information about Shell’s QGC LNG plant on Curtis Island please visit: www.shell.com.au/qgc, or visit our Gladstone office, now located at 173 Goondoon St. RMBE01Z01MA - V1

Agnes Water is a hidden gem according to Helen Whitmore.

Jennifer Bourke volunteers at the Gladstone Visitor Information Centre.

Helen Whitmore volunteers at the Gladstone Visitor Information Centre.

Barney Point in Gladstone is one of Jennifer Bourke’s favourite local spots.

Discover the Gladstone Region Your next holiday is closer than you think...

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FEATURE 29

THEMORNINGBULLETIN.COM.AU THURSDAY MARCH 12 2020

Top workers recognised CQ MINERS SHINE IN DIVERSITY STAKES AT QRC AWARDS to provide better gender balance in its workforce.

“More than double the number of women are now working in our resources sector in Queensland compared with when we began our Women in Resources Action Plan,” he said.

“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, almost 11,000 women now take part in every area of our business, from operators to trades people, geologists, engineers and senior and executive management.”

Individual category winners took home a $5000 scholarship.

WINNERS Exceptional Woman (Resources): Job Best, Hastings Deering Excellence in Diversity Programs: Hastings Deering Exceptional Trade/Technical/Operator: Conal Hearps, Peabody Exceptional Woman (Exploration): Caoiln Chestnutt, Siecap Exceptional Young Woman: Kathryn Young, BHP Gender Diversity Champion: Jayson Smeeton, BHP Exceptional QMEA Student: Liva Wood, Wavell SHS

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QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL THREE Central Queensland resource champions have taken home awards at the Queensland Resources Council/Women in Mining and Resources Queensland International Women’s Day breakfast.

Moranbah’s Conal Hearps took out the Exceptional Woman in Trade/Technician/ Operator, BHP Mitsui coal mine manager Jayson Smeeton’s was named Gender Diversity Champion and a young geotechnical engineer, Kathryn Young from BHP’s Mitsubishi’s Peak Downs Mine, won the Exceptional Young Woman in Queensland Resources Award.

“I believe that attracting women to pursue careers in the resources sector should begin at school and university,” Ms Young said.

“My vision of gender diversity is how organisations move from ‘we know gender diversity is important’ to ‘we understand and embody in our attitudes and behaviours within the organisation and community’,” Mr Smeeton said.

“In my time in this industry I’ve met many inspiring women that have taken on many career paths. I now see myself as a role model in this industry,” Ms Hearps said.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the awards played a pivotal role in the sector’s efforts

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This specifically targeted section delivers information to all our readers in Central Queensland. Delivered monthly through the four dominant local newspapers, CQ Industry keeps the reader informed by providing information on our diverse businesses. Innovation and success has built this region from the resources to fishing, agricultural and ports covering Emerald and Biloela to Rockhampton, Mackay and Gladstone.

Your business can take advantage of this monthly targeted section to extend your market reach, CQ Industry is produced in the Gladstone Observer, Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, Mackay Daily Mercury, Biloela’s Central Telegraph and Emerald’s CQ News. With over 30,000+ copies brought in these regions imagine the expansive market your business can reach all this region’s customers.

Put your business in front of this large consumer market and make sure you are at least part of the conversation, don’t let your competitors take all the business.

Call now to take your share of the market. Our team will help to take the worry out of advertising, working with you to accomplish your businesses goals.

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Published second Thursday of the month: • The Observer, Gladstone • The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton • Daily Mercury, Mackay Published second Friday of the month: • Central Telegraph, Biloela • Central Queensland News, Emerald To advertise within CQ Industry please contact your local sales representative.

The Observer, Gladstone (07) 4970 3030 Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton (07) 4930 4289 Daily Mercury, Mackay (07) 4957 0430 Central Telegraph, Biloela (07) 4990 0700 CQ News, Emerald (07) 4980 0830

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