Bega Cheese relocates Canberra dairy operations

Bega Cheese will cease production at its Griffith, Canberra, facility following a review of its fresh dairy manufacturing operations across the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. 

The dairy company will relocate production to its Penrith, New South Wales, site. The shift will affect 19 employees, who will have the option to choose between redundancy packages or redeployment.

The company commented that outplacement and worker assistance programmes will be available to support Bega’s team members during the job transition.

Bega explained that due to the lack of dairy farms in Canberra, milk was sourced from outside the Australian Capital Territory and transported to Griffith for production, adding that it was “often bypassing more efficient and sustainable production sites like Bega’s Penrith facility”.

Bega said in a stock exchange filing: “There will be no change to the brand or the milk inside the bottles across Canberra Milk or Dairy Farmers brands…it will be the same high-quality Australian milk that has been sourced for decades”.

Darryn Wallace, executive general manager of Bega Dairy and Drinks, Bega Group, noted: “This move will allow us to maintain our high standards across product quality and customer service, utilising the benefits of a larger full-time operation specialising in the production of fresh milk”.