Goolwa PipiCo

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (15:25): I rise to talk about a visit last Friday by the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development to the town of Port Elliot. He was invited to come down to meet people, following a significant investment by the government through the Regional Growth Fund into a business called Goolwa PipiCo. Goolwa PipiCo is a business that has operated since 2014. It was established in 2014 by four families coming together and deciding that there was a real need to transform the pipi industry, which was very much a bait industry, into something that was much more valuable, namely, for human consumption in the restaurant trade and households generally.

The Hoad family is one of the families that has been operating in the fishery since the 1960s. They are one of the families making up PipiCo. They have done a lot of cockling over the years. They go raking for cockles on the beach on the sea side of the Coorong, harvesting the pipis, and then they bring them back to the factory at Port Elliot for processing. Harvesting has not been done just by this family for many years. It goes back many more years than that.

The custodians of that area, the Ngarrindjeri people, have been harvesting cockles in this region for thousands of years. The exciting thing is that they continue to be part of the project going forward. The Ngarrindjeri people and PipiCo have joined in a partnership and are working together to develop markets and to harvest in order to bring products into the new factory, which is being expanded thanks to this investment.

Currently, about 400 tonnes of pipis/cockles are harvested every year. At the moment, there are about 30 employees. This investment of $489,335, which we have been able to provide through the Regional Growth Fund, is going to make a huge difference. It is going to allow for the factory to expand, to be able to operate more consistently all year round and employ people on a permanent basis. They are looking to have eight full-time jobs out of this expansion which will enable the business to operate all year round in a more stable way.

They are also looking to bring in some of the processing that is currently done elsewhere. At the moment, they have two lines that are processed offsite. One of them is for a sashimi product made with their cockles, which is sent to Sydney for processing and then brought back to South Australia for distribution. They are hoping to bring that back to Port Elliot due to the factory expansion, which will enable the business to have full control of the line. There is another line that is processed in Adelaide and they hope to bring that back to the Port Elliot facility as well.

It was great to spend Friday with the minister and some key people within the business. Roger Edwards is the chair of the organisation, and he is very thrilled to have this sort of investment. Tom Robinson is another partner in the business who has been working hard in putting forward the submission. Uncle Derek Walker and many others from the Ngarrindjeri community were there as well.

To have them there to celebrate this community action was fantastic. It was great to see them investing in this business. It was also nice that they were able to put on a paella with their products. It was cooked by Billy Dohnt of BillyDohnt Does. It was a great day—and we had the pleasure of the company of the Alexandrina mayor, Keith Parkes, and the CEO, Glenn Rappensberg—so thanks very much.