09 Jan New business a boon for outback town

State KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter has congratulated businessman Ben North and the team at Viper Water Solutions for flying in the face of adversity following the devastating floods that consumed the North West earlier in the year.

Mr North and his team, including Operations Manager Mark Slinn, recently established a successful new business in the bush that will both capitalise on and provide crucial (and local) support to the region’s ongoing need for irrigation into the future.

The new poly-pipe factory, located in Hughenden, is catering to growing local and inter-state demand for piping for both new and old water developments, including agricultural, mining and civil.

All plastic used on site is recycled and the new business could eventually have more than two dozen staff on the books, signalling a boon for the small town that has a permanent population of around 1000 people.

Mr Katter toured the new factory, which runs 24 hours a day for five days, in recent weeks and said he was very impressed.

“On both the small and the large scale, it is businesses like Viper Water Solutions and projects like the Hughenden Irrigation Project, that are our future in this part if the world,” Mr Katter said.

“We will always need water, it is our most precious resource, and I would like to congratulate Ben and his team for recognising this and investing in this out here at Hughenden.

“Having these products manufactured locally is very significant, not to mention the many jobs this has and will continue to create and in turn, the local families it will support.

“This is ‘Outback Development 101’ – it is the sort of thing our governments need to encourage and support if they want our regions to remain sustainable into the future.”