SunRice Blames Water Policy as 78 Jobs Cut in Regional NSW

SunRice, one of the world's largest rice companies, has confirmed the loss of 78 jobs and changes to 92 positions across its Deniliquin and Leeton mills, as well as Australian Grain Storage, in the NSW Riverina region. The company employs about 650 people in the region and had foreshadowed the scale-down in July due to low crop volumes brought on by drought and "water policy settings".

Commonwealth water policy is being blamed for the job losses, with Leeton Shire Council general manager Jackie Kruger stating that the federal government's water buybacks have "skewed the price of water and made water less available for annual croppers like rice farmers and cotton farmers." She added, "The government is squarely responsible for this decision that SunRice has had to make."

SunRice Group CEO Paul Serra said in a statement, "We don't take these decisions lightly. Our focus has been on retaining as many employees as possible, including through redeployment opportunities where feasible. SunRice continues to advocate to government on the adverse impacts of water policy settings on the Riverina rice industry."

Peter Herrmann, president of the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia, told ABC Riverina Breakfast it was a sad time for many people within the industry and the affected communities. "We really feel it in the country when communities like ours are impacted by choices like this," he said.

The company will move from 24/7 production at Leeton to 16-hour shifts, five days a week. Processing at its Deniliquin mill will still take place five days per week, but hours will be cut from 24 to eight per day.

Federal government 'squarely responsible'

Ms Kruger said 10 families in Leeton and 68 families in Deniliquin would be affected by the redundancies. "We will work proactively with SunRice and the impacted staff to see if there's other businesses in Leeton that can absorb them," she said.

Ms Kruger said the job cuts were a direct result of the federal government purchasing water from irrigators to meet targets in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. "Government water reform has impacted the rice industry … particularly from 2023, when the federal government brought in an amendment to the Restoring Our Rivers Act."

"The government is squarely responsible for this decision that SunRice has had to make."

Federal Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt has been contacted for comment. In a statement, a federal government spokesperson said SunRice had notified the government of its decision. "The Albanese Government continues to support Basin communities' transition to a future with less water through record in the Sustainable Communities Program," they said.

The spokesperson said under that program the NSW Government had been provided with $50 million this year, in addition to $85 million allocated under previous rounds. They also noted the Murray-Darling Basin Plan review process, which is underway. "The review will decide how the Basin should be governed into the future, and public submissions are being considered as part of that process."

A 2024 ABARES report foreshadowed that rice would be the crop most impacted by continued voluntary water purchases. Production last summer was about 180,000 tonnes, the smallest crop since the 2019-20 drought.

During his maiden speech in federal parliament this week, One Nation's federal member for Farrer said the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was a failing, expensive ideological exercise. "Environmental policy cannot be considered in isolation from food production, regional communities, national resilience and human wellbeing," David Farley said. "Australia needs to have the courage to examine the Murray-Darling Basin Plan objectively."