After six months of silence, steam from the sugar mill chimneys punches into a clear sky before quietly dissolving into the blue. It is a welcome and familiar sight for residents of the small riverside village.

Finally, cane is being crushed again and its back to work at Sunshine Sugar in Broadwater.

Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt announced more than $12 million in flood recovery funding for Sunshine Sugar.

It has been a long wait for the decision to be made about how the money would be divided among the major businesses in flood impacted areas of the Northern Rivers.

Norco will receive more than $34 million.

The Federal Government has contributed $45 million and $15 million comes from the State Government for the Anchor Business Support Grant Program.

The funding will support nearly 1400 full-time jobs in the Northern Rivers. Sunshine Sugar chief executive Chris Connors said the funding has come at a critical time.

In the past six months, the sugar company has had significant costs in maintaining full employment. This has impacted the company’s ability to maintain grower payments.

“This grant is going to mean we can bring those payments back to our normal standard and ensure our sustainability,” Mr Connors said.

The February-March floods brought almost three metres of water through the mill leaving behind a scene of chaos and devastation. Many local cane farmers and mill employees in the area lost their homes, crops, livestock and machinery, Mr Connors said.

“The delivery of the first load of cane and the commencement of crushing for the first time this year (in August), is a huge milestone and a positive step toward recovery of not only the local sugar industry but for all of the local businesses and communities involved in the farming, harvesting and milling of sugarcane here in the Richmond.” Mr Watt visited the Broadwater Mill last week.

“It’s about making sure we don’t just repair things, we want to make sure this region is more resilient for the future,” he said. “Whether we like it or not, with climate change and other things, we’re going to be seeing more floods and intense weather in the future.

“We want to make sure facilities and homes can stand up to future events as well.”

The following six businesses were offered funding through the program:

• Manildra Harwood Sugars (Sunshine Sugar) – $12,660,971
• Social Futures – $899,360
• Norco Co-operative Limited – $34,698,362
• McKinlay Enterprises (North Coast Petroleum) – $4,050,368
• Williams Group Australia – $3,676,834
• Multitask Human Resource Foundation – $3,314,105

The program is being administered by the NSW Government under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Sunshine Sugar is looking for mechanical fitters, call 6681 2700. They also need truck drivers. Call 6620 8223 if you’re interested.

This article appeared on indyNR.com on 13 September 2022.