King Island Dairy hit the headlines in 2024. But there were other problems for ag on the Bass Strait isle in the past year.
Whether it’s King Island or Queen Elizabeth II, royalty in all its forms have bad years.
The late British queen referred to 1992 as ‘annus horribilis’ — Latin for horrible year — following several divorces and the Windsor Castle fire.
For King Island, you could easily describe 2024 is the Bass Strait isle’s annus horribilis.
From every direction, the usually-green isle’s sources of employment were under fire.
The island, known for its quirky named towns such as Grassy, Egg Lagoon and Sea Elephant was living up to the names of some of its lesser-known locales — like Surprise Bay and the aptly-named Pearshape.
“It’d be hard to find anyone on the island who thought 2024 was a good year. We’re all looking forward to 2025,” King Island Council deputy mayor Vernon Philbey said.
A lingering drought blanched its landscape, while in October, one of its largest employers — the Dolphin Tungsten Mine – was placed in a share trading halt.
But it’s the other big employer — King Island Dairy — which has dominated the headlines.
In November 2023, Canadian dairy giant Saputo announced it was seeking a buyer for the popular cheese and its factory — but last September declared there were no interested parties and they would “retire the brand.”
The future of King Island Dairy has dominated headlines in the past year. Picture: Supplied
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has accused Saputo of not working hard enough to find a buyer and left the door open to temporary government ownership of the processor.
“We will not stand idly by while a global company welshes on its responsibility to work with the government for the benefit of Tasmania,” the Premier said prior to Christmas.
Saputo has kept its counsel on the issue, declining to respond to the Premier’s concerns.
King Island Council mayor Marcus Blackie has struck a more conciliatory note, saying as a former cheesemaker at the factory he had “never said a bad word about Saputo.”
“I’ve even met the founding family. Out of great respect I would like to keep it that way, but ‘by their current fruits ye shall know them’,” he told The Weekly Times.
But that doesn’t mean Cr Blackie doesn’t want Saputo to change course and find a buyer for the processor.
The factory employs more than 60 people, which is a sizeable chunk of its 1600 population.
“Saputo now has an opportunity to redeem its corporate reputation and depart King Island under win-win arrangements,” Cr Blackie said.
“I urge them to take that off ramp and help us save our legendary cheese company. There is a pathway by which we can all be winners out of this and I again thank the Tasmanian Premier for his staunch and unwavering support.”
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has visited the island several times in recent months. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones
The Tasmanian premier has visited the island several times in recent months to discuss the factory’s future.
But in a finely-balanced state parliament down in Hobart, Premier Rockliff will need crossbench or bipartisan support for a temporary nationalisation move.
Tasmanian Opposition Leader Dean Winter said he will travel to King Island in the coming weeks for talks and will also be a key player in the near future for the factory.
“Nationalisation of the dairy would be an extraordinary step and we have no detail of any plan around this,” Mr Winter said.
“The best outcome would be for Saputo to do the right thing by its workers and the island and allow the dairy to continue to operate under a new owner.
“However, we have already seen the delaying tactics they used for months in relation to their workforce in Burnie and it is hard to have any faith they will do the right thing here either.”
King Island beef farmer Greg Morris said the potential loss of the island’s eponymous dairy factory would indirectly impact all islanders, both farmers and non-agricultural residents.
“It’s been great advertising for King Island for years. People on mainland Australia see King Island Dairy cheese in the supermarket, then they think of the great beef, or vice versa,” Mr Morris said.
“Dairy isn’t the force on King Island that it was 20 years ago. Back then, dairy land was priced higher than beef land — now land prices are largely the same with a lot of farms going dairy to beef — similar to the rest of Australia.”
Beef farmer Greg Morris said the potential loss of the island’s eponymous dairy factory would indirectly impact all islanders, both farmers and non-agricultural residents. Picture: Adam Gibson
King Island Beef Producers group president Nick Lyttle said the loss of the dairy processor would have a knock-on effect on freight for beef and general produce.
“Freight is the elephant in the room. Take away a big player like King Island Dairy and that has an impact on us with beef. Even just getting general groceries to the island,” he said.
Mr Lyttle said 2025 was already looking positive, with the land between Currie, Wickham and Grassy looking, well, grassy.
“Like any drought it lasted longer than you wanted but the grass is growing now,” he said.
“Winter was ordinary, spring wasn’t great and by November, it was looking dire. Then on November 29, we got 90-odd ml of rain and it was an early Christmas present.
“The white clover is six inches high, so here’s hoping it brings a bit of luck.”
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