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| Greg Beashel, managing director and chief executive of Queensland Sugar Limited.The Australian |
12:00AM March 4, 2017
Queensland political reporterBrisbane
Sweet relief is just weeks away for Queensland’s sugar industry, with warring miller Wilmar and marketer Queensland Sugar Limited reaching in-principle agreement.
The months-long stoush has caused political pain for state and federal conservatives, with rebel federal Liberal National Party MP George Christensen threatening to quit the party over the impasse.
After 11 hours of state government-funded mediation in Brisbane on Thursday, QSL and Singapore-owned Wilmar announced yesterday they had reached a “high level agreement” about QSL buying Wilmar’s raw sugar.
“While QSL welcomes this long overdue development, there is still a lot of work to be done before a detailed contract is secured and Wilmar growers can begin to access QSL marketing and pricing services for the 2017 season and beyond,” QSL managing director Greg Beashel said.
The Weekend Australian understands teams of lawyers for both sides are negotiating the wording of a written agreement, expected within weeks.
This week, the LNP state opposition failed to push through Queensland’s hung parliament a bill to compel both parties to enter formal arbitration to solve the dispute. The attempted legislative intervention came after the LNP voted with Katter’s Australian Party crossbenchers in 2015 to partially re-regulate the sugar industry, at the urging of canegrowers.
Thursday’s mediation was run by retired Supreme Court judge Richard Chesterman, appointed by the state government.
Growers sell cane to millers, such as Wilmar, which manufacture raw sugar. The price growers are paid is based on the price for which Wilmar sells the raw sugar.
The sugar can either be sold through the miller, or historic sugar marketer QSL. Wilmar has already negotiated cane supply agreements with growers. The contract being negotiated with QSL is the on-supply agreement.
