Wilmar Sugar Australia has postponed its Invicta Centenary community celebrations this Friday due to the ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19.
Burdekin Regional Operations manager Paul Turnbull said the decision to defer the community celebrations until later in the year was not made lightly.
“We’re all very disappointed that we can’t celebrate the milestone with the Giru community next week but our number one priority must be to protect the health and safety of our people,” Mr Turnbull said.
“As the Burdekin’s largest sugar mill, we have a responsibility to the region’s entire sugar industry to do what we can to mitigate against potential risks to our operations.
“When we started our planning more than a year ago, we had hoped that we would not still be dealing with COVID outbreaks and lockdowns by this time.
“As much as we were looking forward to the celebrations, our core business is crushing cane and we can’t jeopardise that.”
Mr Turnbull said Invicta’s 100th birthday would still be celebrated next week, albeit more quietly than originally planned, with a centenary lunch for employees on Thursday, August 12.
The community celebrations have been postponed until October.