SINGAPORE food giant Olam will receive another multi-million dollar handout from the taxpayer to set up operations in Australia.
Critics argue the Victorian Government grant aimed at helping Olam set up an almond processing facility in Mildura will actually cost Australian jobs by allowing the company to withdraw business from a local company.
Olam bought 8000ha of almond groves and 41,000 megalitres of water as part of the Timbercorp collapse, for just $128 million.
The land and infrastructure had been assembled by the managed investment scheme giant using the MIS tax break.
MIS critics argue its purchase - and therefore its very low sale price - was funded by the taxpayer.
Now the Victorian Government has found money in its Business Flood Recovery Fund to help Olam establish an almond processing facility.
Ausbuy chief executive Lynne Wilkinson said the new facility would allow Olam to sever its agreement to send almonds to local almond processor Select Harvests.
"Olam will then be able to grow, process and ship offshore 18,000 tonnes of Australian almonds. The move will leave Select Harvests with around 50 per cent reduced capacity, impacting Australian jobs," Ms Wilkinson said.
"If governments are using taxpayer money, why not give it to Select Harvests for them to reinvest?"
Olam controls 44 per cent of Australia's almond orchards, she said.
Victorian Farmers Federation Sunraysia branch spokesman Bill McClumpha said the taxpayer-funded handout was "another nail in the coffin for legitimate horticulture".
"If there was some pragmatic support for Sunraysia's industries and their existing growers, there'd be no need to subsidise foreign companies," Mr McClumpha said.
Victorian Manufacturing Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said the Olam plant was expected to create "90 direct jobs (and) downstream employment and economic activity".
"The Government's support for this project is part of our strategy to drive resilient and diverse regional economies," Mr Dalla-Riva said.
