Over 30 attendees turned out for the land reclassification public hearing on February 3.
Lot 1 DP1267277, Gonn Road, Barham is the proposed site for Barham’s new micro-abattoir. The meeting sought public feedback regarding the reclassification of land after an administrative error saw the land classified as community instead of operational.
To date, Murray Plains Meat Co-Op (MPMCO) producer-member funds, along with project management support by Murray River Council (MRC) have enabled the planning, current progress, and securement of $2.2 million in federal and NSW funding, consisting of $1.38 million from the NSW Growing Local Economies Program, $450,000 under the Murray-Darling Basin Economic Development Program and $375,000 from federal drought funds.
While the hearing was focused on the land reclassification, topics raised by speakers were broad, from the benefits of the development to those who felt a lack of consultation and concerns over the process.
Mark Dalzell, director of infrastructure at Edward River Council, was the independent chair for the hearing.
Bianca Shepard, who farms at Boundary Bend and is also a director of MPMCO since the formation in 2018, hopes the micro-abattoir will give her the certainty of having somewhere to process her dorper lambs, Berkshire pigs and pastured chickens in a humane and timely manner.
Ms Shepard explained how the 28 co-op members all purchased shares to fund a feasibility study and purchase the block Lot 1 DP1267277.
“We transferred the full price of this purchase of the land and the labour costs to council so they can purchase it in their name for funding purposes only.
“This lot was purchased with the intention of building and running a micro-abattoir, with a capacity to process 3,000 kilos a day. That’s 10 head of beef roughly, depending on the size of the animals, or 50 head of lambs.
“I currently can’t sell my chicken or my pork to consumers because the closest abattoir that is suitable is about five hours away.
“I truly believe we need to decentralise abattoirs and take back control of our meat processing.”
Neighbouring property owners, Anne Maree and Russell Green, strongly objected to the reclassification of the land, citing concerns over the process, engagement and impact on their property.
“We strongly object to the council reclassifying the land. Reclassification will activate the development of an abattoir.
“We live at 6 Gonn Road, which is just over 500 meters from the site, and it will impact us and our quality of life greatly.
“There is confusion over whether the site was created by subdivision or a minor boundary realignment.
“It is in an environmentally sensitive area of interlinked wetlands affecting the groundwater and hydrology,” said Mr Green.
Lisa Eagle was in support of reclassification.
“To have another enterprise here – we have cropping, rice, dairy, beef, sheep, lambs, citrus, avocados, wood, tourism – I think, also complements those rural industries.
“Having diversity in a region also has a ripple effect on to the towns itself, in the supply; schools and hospitals and other resources within towns also expand. That’s why I like supporting our local community with different industries.
“Personally, I want to shop locally, I want to support locally, I would like food to be processed locally if it can be. And that’s why I’ve got behind the idea, and the word is micro.”
Former MRC councillor, Jen Campbell, was not in support of the reclassification.
“I think everyone was very supportive of a micro-abattoir, but my documentation has seen it grow from that.
“The DA [development application] has export capabilities.
“Our group submitted a 30-page submission to ministers, Wes Fang, all the government funding bodies, with documentation that we can back up on major discrepancies.”
Pork producer, retailer and MPMCO director, Lauren Mathers said,
“10 head of cattle a day or the equivalent. It’s very small, even as an export facility. If we wanted to go down that line, it would still be a very small amount of meat going out from that facility. We do not have the opportunity to upgrade or expand, we have restrictions on what we want.
“Council is only involved because of the funding that we received and we were very lucky to receive it, and we’re very grateful for it. We are financially paying members and that’s all I have to say, it’s a community project.”
Former councillor and previous owner of the land in question, Alan Mathers said,
“My motivation from day one was that the world is changing, people shop online, and it’s about paddock to plate.
“All I was trying to do after I shut my dairy down, was help replace the two and a half full-time jobs that disappeared.
“We’re talking 10 or a dozen animals at any given time on that site. I used to run 300 head of cattle on the same paddock strip grazing and I never had any complaints from anybody. So, I’m disappointed.
“The whole point of the micro-abattoirs is to not stress the animals. This is about low impact.
“In terms of the arrangements with council, it was because the co-op was new, it didn’t have any history of operation, and therefore it didn’t have the capacity to secure the funding. The funding was done together, and if anyone is insinuating that in any way I’ve influenced this discussion at council, I’ve not sat in on any meetings nor been party to any discussions. I have not even been able to discuss it with other councils.”
A finding from the hearing and submissions will be compiled by Mark Dalzell and presented to Murray River Council.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 10 February 2022.
