Cannabis factory proposal for Holden's Elizabeth site deserves 'more attention'
Posted
The South Australian Government needs to show more support for a proposal to grow medicinal cannabis at Holden's Elizabeth factory once the site is vacated in 2017, the State Opposition says.
The Australian Cannabis Corporation (ACC) wants to use half the existing buildings for a new enterprise it said would create 2,500 new jobs and generate $800 million annually.
Opposition agriculture spokesperson David Ridgeway said the Government was not giving the opportunity enough attention.
"If you're the flavour of the month and the Government can see a positive media spin out of it, they'll talk to you, but if it's hard work and a difficult project to get off the ground, the Government walks away," he said.
The Holden site at Elizabeth in Adelaide's north spans about 124 hectares with carparks, road infrastructure and open land.
Factory floors, storage spaces and offices cover about 24 hectares of the site.
A State Government spokesman said it was working with the ACC to help it establish a presence in SA and welcomed investment in the medicinal cannabis sector.
But ACC assistant director Shane Yeend said that was "absolute bulls**t" and there had been a distinct lack of progress.
He said the corporation had been in contact with the Government for 12 months, well ahead of federal law changes that made the cultivation and manufacture of medicinal cannabis legal from November 1.
Mr Yeend said he had asked Premier Jay Weatherill for a letter to back their application for a federal licence but only got a "fluffy letter from a minister that I wouldn't put in anything".
"How are we going to get anything done if we can't get the Premier to say it?" he said.
"It's [medicinal cannabis] one of the biggest industries in the world growing at the moment and we should be out there grabbing whatever we can."
Mr Yeend said SA needed to lead innovation not "buy it" from elsewhere.
"Are we going to be Singapore where we try everything and succeed in some, or are we just going to wither away and die?" he said.
The Government spokesman said it was inviting investors to establish their businesses in South Australia under the "Commonwealth's new licensing scheme".
He said Investment Attraction SA (IASA) had provided ACC with information to understand legislative and regulatory requirements in SA, and sourced information from other agencies at their request.
"IASA has also been researching potential sites within our state that would meet the company's requirements," the spokesman said.
Topics: community-and-society, cannabis, health, elizabeth-5112, adelaide-5000, sa
