New supermarket in remote Queensland empowering local Indigenous community

Brendan Foster Published September 28, 2023 at 1.30pm (AWST)

business

Christopher Martin, Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (left) alongside Gene Geedrick from Gulf Regional Economic Aboriginal Holdings Limited.

A recently opened supermarket in an outback coastal town in the northwest of Queensland is empowering the local First Nations community.

More than 80 per cent of the hours worked at the new Normanton Foodworks store in the south-eastern region of the Gulf of Carpentaria is performed by First Nations people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation Bynoe Properties was given $2 million by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) to build the store.

The Gulf Regional Economic Aboriginal Holdings Limited (GREAT) and Bynoe Community Advancement Cooperative Society Ltd (BCACS) teamed up for the $10 million project.

The supermarket is one of the largest within the region and employees can upskill their positions through training with the opportunity to complete a Certificate III in Retail.

GREAT and BCACS are currently building a new in-store bakery, to provide fresh bread and baked goods all year round.

Chairman of GREAT, Fred Pascoe, said while the cost of living continued to be a serious problem in the Gulf, the team were looking at ways to optimise freight costs to help keep food prices down.

"We hope that with the supply of fresh food, that the community's health and well-being will improve in the long term," he said.

"Recent flooding and road closures have highlighted the need to improve food security in the Gulf –which has significantly improved as a result of the supermarket's construction."

ILSC chief executive, Joe Morrison, said the Normanton Foodworks store was helping to raise the Indigenous economic contribution to the local economy.

"I congratulate the community on this admirable achievement," he said.

"At the ILSC, the Indigenous community is at the heart of everything we do, and we strive to support First Nations people to realise their cultural, social, and economic benefits.

"This is a major milestone for Normanton and is a project the ILSC is proud to have been a part of.

"This milestone has been 10 years in the making – demonstrating the Normanton community's perseverance and hard work."