Community
10 December, 2023
Red tape madness
RED tape is putting the future of Innisfail-based Northern Iron and Brass Foundry in jeopardy.
The 89-year-old business has been calling on the state government to amend legislation to make it exempt from a waste levy after it was granted exemptions three times. The latest is due to expire on December 31 but after the government was contacted by Cairns Local News this week it has been extended by another 12 months.
Northern Iron and Brass Foundry (NIBF) operations manager Joe Vecchio said the government needed to help the Innisfail foundry so that waste was not going to regulated landfill and could continue to be recycled.
“The state government has given us three exemptions since the legislation was first introduced but have done nothing to fix the core root of the problem in the legislation,” he said.
“We have exhausted every possible option we can to recycle the current moulding sand on site.
“We don’t have easy access to waste facilities that major cities enjoy, so once the exemption expires, we will be left with no other options, and it will have to be transported at significant cost to regulated landfill in Townsville, as it cannot be dumped locally.
“This will add hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cost to the business, which is going to create a huge financial burden on the foundry.”
Mr Vecchio said if the business could not continue, the effect on Innisfail would be highly destructive and create a domino effect right throughout the region.
“All we are asking for is urgency, understanding and some empathy in working with us to amend the legislation to assist the business to keep our doors open and keep employing the local workforce,” he said.
After being contacted by Cairns Local News, a Department of Environment and Science spokesman said: “We have extended the waste levy exemption for Northern Iron and Brass Foundry until December 31, 2024.
“We will continue to work with the business to examine potential solutions for their improved management of foundry sand,” he said.
But Member for Hill Shane Knuth said the legislation needed to be amended and the business permanently exempted from its waste levy, first introduced in 2019.
“This is another example of poorly thought-out legislation that has had a devastating effect on NIBF, who employ up to 70 people in Innisfail,” he said.
“NIBF has been granted a financial exemption three times from the Waste Levy, first introduced in 2019, with assurances the issue would be fixed.”
Mr Knuth said the latest exemption was expected to run out on December 31, 2023, however the government had failed to live up to its commitment to amend the legislation.
After raising the matter in parliament a number of times and holding a number of meetings, Mr Knuth said he was fed up.
He said the business had also been hit with huge electricity tariffs and other levy rises.
