“The Heritage” cheese factory a boost for Burnie

The Premier Will Hodgman today officially opened the $150 million expansion of Lion’s “The Heritage” cheese factory in Burnie, which is an enormous sign of the growing confidence in the future of Tasmania’s dairy industry.

Mr Hodgman welcomed the investment as a massive boost for the North West region.

“Lion is one of our largest local employers with more than 250 employees in Burnie and 400 across Tasmania, and this investment by Lion further secures these jobs into the future”, Mr Hodgman said.

“The Tasmanian Government provided $1.5 million of public funding to assist this new development, which builds on the success of our dairy industry, one of our great competitive strengths.

“With this development, Lion has created the largest specialty cheese factory in the Southern Hemisphere, trading on all that makes Tasmanian produce some of the best in the world; our reputation for a clean, safe, world-class natural product.

“With the signing of the recent Australia China Free Trade Agreement and our concerted efforts to open up new trade links with China, alongside the benefits of the $115 million investment in the second tranche of irrigation schemes, the new downstream production facility will assist our dairy industry to grow and support even more local jobs.”

The Minister for Primary Industries and Water Jeremy Rockliff said the expansion could not happen without the skills and dedication of the local workers.

“Our dairy farmers are among the best in the world and demand for their produce is growing,” Mr Rockliff said.

“Already we have more than 400 registered dairy farms, employing about 2,600 Tasmanians, and our cheese industry on its own is worth more than $350 million, with almost seven per cent of that from overseas exports.

“This investment by Lion will increase its production from 11,000 tonnes to 26,000 tonnes and clearly shows that confidence in our high quality and safe dairy produce is booming.

“The Hodgman Liberal Government and the Federal Government have partnered with DairyTas to support the future sustainable growth of Tasmania’s milk supply, which will enable the continued growth of the specialty cheese industry.

“This is an important step towards our dairy industry realising its full potential and helping to achieve our plan to grow the value of our agricultural sector tenfold to $10 billion each year by 2050.”

The Tasmanian Government partnered with Lion in 2012 to provide $1.5 million towards the expansion, to create a Research and Development Centre of Excellence for specialty cheese within the Burnie operation. The final grant payment will be made in June this year.
Will Hodgman, Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Primary Industries and Water