Sugar mill closure leaves 150 workers without jobs after buy-out falls through

One of Australia’s oldest sugar mills is shutting down, leaving scores of workers without a job after an 11th hour rescue package failed.

The Mossman Sugar Mill in Far North Queensland had been hanging by a thread since November 2023 when it was placed into voluntary administration.

Administrator John Goggin announced on Friday the 127-year-old mill was being liquidated because no viable takeover bids could secure the necessary investment in time.

Mr Goggin said the mill’s assets would be sold off.

“I liaised with numerous interested parties regarding their interest in the group and the mill operations, however only one party submitted a viable expression of interest,” he said.

“I will be working with the staff, governments, growers, and other affected stakeholders over the coming weeks and months”.

About 80 canegrowers supply the grower-owned mill, which employs about 150 people in the town of almost 2,000.

Sugar is a major industry for Mossman, north-west of Cairns.

The mill is one of four cane grower-operated companies of the Daintree Bio Precinct Group, which will all be part of the liquidation.

At the end of February, Queensland Premier Steven Miles offered a $12 million funding package to attract a viable buyer after Mossman residents confronted him in Cairns with a protest before a town hall meeting.

On the same day, a rescue proposal from Clever Power to re-structure and recapitalise the group was accepted by mill owners.

But it failed within the statutory 15-day deadline.