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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-05-14 Daily Xml
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Thomas Foods International

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:51): My question is to the Premier. What guarantees were given to the government by Thomas Foods International that government funding would see local workers benefit before foreign visa holders and that best practice working conditions would be maintained, particularly now, in light of the COVID-19 restrictions? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I would just add a bit more information.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: Along with other grants, federal and state, totalling more than $40 million, Thomas Foods received $1.38 million of state government funding to help retain 50 jobs after a fire devastated its plant.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:51): I don't have the details of any funding agreement with me, but I am more than happy to check on that. I know that most South Australians were pretty devastated when we saw the fire which occurred at the Thomas Foods plant, just adjacent to Murray Bridge. It's a very important employer in that region, and of course it is also processing a lot of the red meat that we have from right across South Australia. So, in effect, it had a flowback effect on many of our primary producers in South Australia.

I think Thomas Foods have done a very good job in trying to increase the capacity of other plants, including Lobethal and others interstate, to try to deal with the issue associated with the reduced capacity at Murray Bridge. I don't have a latest update on that project, and I don't have the details of the funding agreement that the member raises, but I am more than happy to follow that up.

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