Cairns local finalist at the Qld Rural Women’s Award

THE positive contributions to rural and regional communities of four Queensland women have been recognised with nominations for the 2023 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award.

Among the nominees is Cairns local Kate Lamason.

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities

Mark Furner said the four finalists were now in the running for the prestigious AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award.

“The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has a rich heritage of promoting the contribution Australian women make to rural industries, businesses and communities and inspiring them to develop their skills further,” Mr Furner said.

“This year’s finalists join 300-strong alumni dedicated to advancing women’s work in regional and rural Australia and providing a supportive network for future endeavours.

“This year’s winner will receive a $15,000 Westpac grant and represent Queensland at the national announcement in September, where they have the chance to win an additional $20,000 Westpac grant.”

Finalist and Owner/Director of Little Tuna, Kate Lamason, said she feels honoured to be nominated.

“I’m excited; it’s such an honour to be listed as a finalist with the other amazing women,” Ms Lamason said.

“FNQ is my home, I moved from Adelaide when I was in high school, and to be representing Cairns it’s exactly what I’d want to be doing.”

Ms Lamason and her husband, Rowan Lamason, founded Little Tuna in 2016, the innovative company that has now taken her to the Rural Women’s Awards finals.

With over 30 years in the fishing industry, the Lamason family discovered a gap in the market with tuna only being exported for canning overseas.

“As a family, we were consuming a lot of tuna for the convenience and the health benefits,” Ms Lamason said.

“Tuna was always on our menu, but we were quite shocked that here we were catching the tuna, but it wasn’t even Australian-caught or Australianmade.

“We started canning it for ourselves; we spent a lot of time getting the flavour and the texture right, and it turned out to be such a delicious product that showcased the freshness of the fish that we started selling it.”

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Ms Lamason went on to create a highly successful vertically-integrated business model with Little Tuna where not only could they ensure the freshness and quality of their product but also where all processes were completely local.

“A lot of people ask for Australian tuna, and it can be really confusing out there; it’s not until you read the fine print when you realise it’s actually not Australian,” she said.

“We’ve been able to provide Australian consumers with Australian tuna, which they should be able to get.

“We’ve got a unique product; it’s in a glass jar, so it’s different from the cans; you can actually see the quality, see it’s jam-packed.

“You can see there are no preservatives, no hidden nasties; everything in that jar is Australian, made by Australians.”

Ms Lamason not only stands out because of her business but also for becoming an essential figure in a male-dominated industry and said she wanted to inspire women to be a part of the seafood industry.

“I met a group of women called the Women in Seafood Australia last year and I learned there’s an abundance of women in the industry, but we are the minority,” she said.

“But there are many opportunities for women to join the industry, and there’s so much we can do and bring to the table, so to represent women in this industry is remarkable, and I love being a woman in the seafood industry.”

The Queensland Rural Women’s Award winner will be announced on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Ms Lamason said winning the award would help her materialise Little Tuna’s future.

“We have the opportunity to export; being a preserved product is favourable with exporting, so we can represent Australian seafood internationally,” she said.

“To win this would help me do a couple of courses and learn leadership skills to use in these instances.”

The finalists, who receive a $2,000 grant from the state sponsor, the University of Queensland, if they are not named the state winner, are:

• Emma Black, from Kingaroy

• Emma-Louise Gibbons, from the Sunshine Coast

• Kate Lamason, from Cairns

• Louise Noble, from Toowoomba.

For more information, visit agrifutures.com.au/ opportunities/rural-womens-award/ or click the following link in our online edition http://bit.ly/3DQTFk7

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