Queenslander!

Queenslander was the war cry booming from the recent Granite Belt Growers Gala Dinner, with former State of Origin stalwart and fellow Stanthorpian (his words) Billy Moore at the helm of the microphone leading the charge on the night.  

Billy has been credited with the famous State of Origin Queenslander war cry however he humbly outlined what he believes this simple word really means. You couldn’t hear a pin drop. Three simple yet powerful values create a winning culture:

• Teamwork – never leaving a mate behind 

• Always finding a solution; and

• No excuses.

The growers of the Granite Belt, and indeed growers right across the state, personify these three things in so many ways every day. They work in teams on-farm and in regions to grow and harvest the fresh food we eat, they are also creative, innovative problem solvers who always get our produce to market – no excuses.

Over a few well-deserved ales, growers shared common stories about coming up against a fierce, powerful, and bitter teams of ill-informed members, stories which included:

• Unworkable and impractical government policy.

• Retailers not sharing their increasing margins, horticulture has always understood the usual game of supply and demand.

• Fear of retribution for speaking up about what is happening.

• Unions being overzealous as to what can be achieved for the worker, without sending the grower worker below the poverty line, and using intimidatory tactics. “There’s only so much money to go around and growers get paid last, if at all”.

• Increasing costs of production with no ability to ‘pass these through’. 

• Ever increasing compliance burden.

As Billy Moore says, “Queenslander is not just a word, it’s a call to action.” The time has come when our own war cry will need to be used loudly, strongly, and bravely to cut through this nonsense, if growers are to remain viable and survive.