Australia dons Mackay as State Development Area to support emerging biocommodity industry

In Australia, Mackay is the latest Queensland city to gain a State Development Area (SDA), with the declaration to unlock land for new industrial development and more jobs. The SDA sets aside 907 ha of land adjacent to the Racecourse Mill and at Rosella to be rezoned to support value adding to the sugar cane product.

The SDA will see the city become Queensland’s home of an emerging biocommodity industry. The announcement follows a seven-month investigation by the Office of the Coordinator-General which began in April 2023 and included public consultation and a call for public submissions.

The next step will be for the Office of the Coordinator-General to prepare then consult with the community on a Draft Development Scheme. Mackay’s sugar industry can also benefit from a new A$4 million Bioenergy Fund launched recently.

The Bioenergy Fund will provide matched financial assistance of between A$250,000 and A$2 million for industry to investigate expanding bioenergy generation from biomass waste streams and support technology innovation. The Fund will prioritise projects that advance biomass-to-electricity conversion technologies and enable growth in the biogas and biomethane sectors, like cane waste to ethanol. Applications can be made for feasibility or technical studies to investigate options and pathways to expand bioenergy generation and support technology innovation in the bioenergy sector in Queensland.