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Australia Day award nominees announced By Kyra Gillespie
Last years' winners from left: Young Citizen Sally Jensen, Citizen of the Year Malcolm Graham and Senior Citizen Les Jacobs. 176994
Nominees for the Cardinia Shire Australia Day Awards 2019 have been announced. Cardinia Shire Council will proudly announce the winners of the Awards at the community Australia Day event at 11am Saturday 26 January, at the Cardinia Cultural Centre, 40 Lakeside Boulevard, Pakenham. Free activities will be provided after the ceremonies from 12pm to 4pm, with the generous support of local businesses and organisations. Food will also be available to purchase at the event. For more information about this year's Australia Day Awards nominees, go to www. cardinia.vic.gov.au/AustraliaDayNominees
Pastry pick-up By Rowan Forster The closure of Simplot has officially been confirmed, with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union on Wednesday revealing the iconic Pakenham warehouse has been sold to Pacific Equity Partners - resulting in the turnover of an entire workforce. More than 125 workers are expected to lose their jobs as a result of Simplot's withdrawal. On 29 March, Bairnsdale-based Patties Pies will seize operations at the plant, marking the end of a five-decade era but the beginning of another. Patties is the corporation behind the beloved Four'N Twenty pie, one of Australia's most renowned pastries.
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ber of jobs at this site, but we just don't know." It comes after Simplot first announced the proposed closure of the Pakenham facility on 22 August, delivering a sharp blow for more than 140 staff. A number of workers were reportedly offered voluntary redundancies in the weeks that followed. One staffer, who did not want to be publicly identified, said he was relieved to no longer be left in the lurch. "It's been a lot of wondering and a lot of worrying, so it's good to finally know what is happening - as difficult as it is," he said. "This has been bad news for Pakenham, but hopefully Patties can recoup some of the losses.
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"It's great of Patties to try and save jobs and help the community." After announcing the proposed closure, Simplot Australia have released a statement, saying the proposal was part of a strategic decision to exit from the frozen meals category to concentrate on its core capabilities in potatoes, vegetable, seafood, pasta and sauces. The site was formerly owned and occupied by Nestle, which opened early in the 1960s. In 2009, the company bowed out of the facility, selling to the American-owned Simplot. Since 1995, Simplot has acquired some of Australia's best-known food brand businesses including Edgell, Chiko, Birds Eye, Harvest, Plumrose, and Leggos.
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The AMWU anticipates that almost all of the current workers will be made redundant, but is optimistic that some will be offered positions with the new company. Several Simplot products will continue to be manufactured at the site, but the factory will predominantly be used for Patties Pies' berry range. A spokesperson for the union said remaining staff were relieved to have finally learnt their futures. "There has been a lot of uncertainty so I think people are relieved to be given a date," he said. "Many are a bit shocked but they're happy to now have a timeline. "Hopefully there will be a significant num-
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