Oakey Beef Exports general manager, Pat Gleeson says the announcement of a $2.5 million upgrade to rail sidings on the Western Line is a major win for both beef producers and Oakey Beef.
Treasurer Curtis Pitt made the announcement today and said improvements to rail infrastructure and the expansion of the Oakey facility was expected to support more than 4,300 jobs and deliver approximately $1.3 billion in economic activity within the region.
“Today’s announcement will help facilitate rail cattle movements from South West Queensland to Oakey which is critical to allow Oakey Beef Exports to undertake a $60 million plant expansion and double its output,” Mr Pitt said.
“I am confident that this investment will generate significant economic benefits within Oakey and surrounding areas, delivering a major boost for regional jobs and bolster economic confidence in this region.”
Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the upgrading of rail infrastructure would allow the company to streamline its operations and move cattle by rail from Quilpie, Charleville, Morven, Roma and Mitchell, to Oakey.
“I have asked Queensland Rail to start planning activities immediately and begin work to upgrade the infrastructure within six months,” Mr Hinchliffe said.
“The project will include upgrading two sidings and reopening part of the old Cecil Plains branch line which was closed in 1994, it runs directly adjacent to the Oakey Beef facility and will allow the company to reinstate rail freight movements and support more than 4,300 jobs in the region.”
As part of the Nippon Ham Group, Oakey Beef Exports is the oldest foreign owned meat processing business in Australia, having been operating from Oakey for 26-years.
The company is currently processing 1300 head of cattle a day as a single shift, five day a week operation.
However, Mr Gleeson said the rail upgrades would assist the company in its plan to double capacity to 1600 cattle a day on a seven day roster.
“We are just about to sign off on stage one of our expansion which was a multi-million dollar project,” Mr Gleeson said.
“We starting talking about expanding when I started here over twenty years ago. The Japanese said to me then, ‘you need to show us that you can get more supply’, and that’s when we started looking at the rail issue.
“It’s such a relief to see it finally happen and full credit to the current government for making it happen.
Mr Gleeson said Oakey Beef was committed to using the upgraded rail infrastructure.
“We want to use it to build this business,” he said.
“We don’t just want to use it periodically. We want a continuous service that the beef producers can plan around.
“This is a great win for producers too because it will strengthen the market because we will now have access to those western cattle.”
The Palaszczuk Government said it had also been working closely with the several western Queensland councils and the South West Regional Economic Development Association on the project.
