GOLDEN NORTH

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about regional development in the Mid North.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: The area known as the Mid North in South Australia, an area I know very well as my wife came from the Mid North, is widely known as the source of some wonderful primary produce, including dairy products, honey and grain. These raw materials prompted the creation of one of South Australia's iconic brands. Can the minister advise of recent developments to strengthen local production in this area?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Indeed, a visit to the Mid North, to the Laura region and the Golden North ice-cream factory was one of the most favourite places of my former driver, Mr Steve Rolloson, who recently retired. I cannot tell you how much he enjoyed visiting Golden North. He was a real sucker for the Golden North Giant Twins; he had a real sweet tooth for that.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Aren't we all?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, he would have his and mine and everyone else's. He really enjoyed those ice-creams. Of course, that is the area where Golden North comes from—and, indeed, I have been very lucky to visit there. It is a beautiful region as well. I am very pleased to be able to inform the chamber that I have approved a grant of $200,000 to assist with 50 per cent of the costs of a refrigeration and hardening plant upgrade at this longstanding iconic ice-cream factory.

The grant will assist in the funding of a just under $900,000 upgrade to the facility. The new work will introduce new refrigeration equipment with a more streamlined layout to improve production efficiency and to reduce the time it takes to bring the newly made ice-cream products to the required temperature of minus 20°. It is amazing, isn't it? Of course, the hardness is also important. It currently takes around 80 hours to get to the right temperature and level of hardness, but with the new equipment it is expected to be ready in a mere 24 hours, rather than 80 hours.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Faster ice-cream! Fantastic

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Faster ice-cream. It will speed up production considerably, and that makes a big difference in summertime, when the demand is very high and they are often at full capacity. So, that timing difference will make a big difference in terms of their ability to meet supply and demand. Up-to-date equipment will also significantly reduce the energy usage of the plant, and it is expected to provide annual savings in greenhouse emissions of approximately 569 tonnes of CO₂, and that is not an improvement to be sneezed at—pun intended.

The improvements build on the company's work over the past few years of expanding and diversifying its offering in supermarkets and convenience stores, including using new tube-shaped packs and introducing new frozen flavoured milks. It has worked on its product lines to complement the well-known Golden North Giant Twins, for which they are famous, and to develop some new frozen treats to tempt the child in all of us, such as Chocolate Daydream, and there is a fudge choc bar, from new equipment that was installed back in 2011. You can hear a pin drop in here, Mr President. It is amazing; when you talk about these wonderful products everyone stops and listens.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: I'm having the honey ice-cream.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The honey ice-cream, yes. I understand the new products including the frozen flavoured milk products, the Golden North Swing, have been a great success, receiving the best innovative dairy product award in the 2012 South Australian Dairy Awards. Golden North was established back in 1923; it is quite remarkable, isn't it? It has developed to become a leading South Australian-based manufacturer of quality ice-cream and other milk-based products. It is obviously a very significant employer in the area. I am advised around 48 FTEs are working at the plant. It is only just over 230 kilometres north of Adelaide. I understand that the improvements to the refrigeration capacity will enable the company to continue to grow its capacity at that regional site in years to come.

The RDF from which the grant is made is a $3 million per annum merit-based grant program to help deliver PIRSA's regional development objectives and our government's seven priorities. The fund—I have said it in this place before, so I will not go into it in detail—has the two streams, one going to the RDAs and the other a merit-based grant system. Non-metropolitan private sector businesses, industry associations, community organisations, regional local government and the South Australian non-metropolitan Regional Development Australia associations are all eligible to apply for that stream too.

Each proponent can access funding from $50,000 to a maximum of $200,000 for eligible projects. Proponents need to complete an expression of interest and a fairly rigorous process is then gone through to make sure that the projects are up to standard. I just want to take this opportunity to commend Golden North for its work to improve its manufacturing process, and I obviously look forward to the completion of the project, which I am told is due to be finished mid-2014.