The Tale of Two SA Towns

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By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

The Tale of Two SA Towns - I listened to the podcast that featured Darren Thomas from Thomas Foods International (TFI). He spoke about the fire that burned down their Murray Bridge Meat Processing plant back in 2018. Take a listen here.

Darren said he did an hour-long media conference the night of the fire and told all the locals that they were going to rebuild. He spoke about the people who might lose their jobs or the ones who would be deployed to other plants. The community took them at their word, and spirits remained reasonably high despite the loss of a major employer in their town. The Thomas's were true to their word, and they did rebuild a state-of-the-art facility, and it's all systems go for Murray Bridge.

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By contrast, things are at the opposite end of the scale in Whyalla, another SA town. Whyalla Steelworks has been rumoured to be going under for some time now, and owner Sanjeev Gupta's silence is deafening. Not a word of how things are going, and the locals are getting restless. The uncertainty is unbearable for some, so they are leaving.

To make matters worse, they read stories that Gupta is spending up big on property and living the high life, all this whilst the bills are slow getting paid back in Whyalla. So it's not only a contrasting case of two towns, but it's also a contrasting case of the attitudes of the two business owners. Do you have any stories of where good or bad leadership can rub off on a community? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

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