30/11/2025
𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝟑𝟎/𝟏𝟏/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓
𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐛𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
Dicky Bill Australia, a fourth generation family farming enterprise and one of the country’s most experienced growers, harvesters and packers of baby leaf salads and herbs, has today been forced to cease operations and will appoint a Voluntary Administrator.
Warakirri’s sudden and aggressive actions have brought an immediate end to one of Australia’s most respected family run farming operations.
For more than 25 years, the business has supplied fresh, high quality produce across Victoria, Queensland and beyond. Its 182 employees, many of whom have been with the business for years, form the heart of the organisation and are part of the communities that surround its Maffra (VIC) and Drinan (QLD) farms.
The past several seasons have brought unprecedented challenges. Cyclonic weather in Queensland, floods in Victoria, and a sequence of events outside the business’s control placed significant pressure on operations. Throughout this period, Dicky Bill worked tirelessly to stabilise the business, meet its obligations and protect jobs.
With the support of restructuring advisers and its senior lender, Judo Bank, Dicky Bill developed a credible restructure plan that preserved 180 jobs, protected employee entitlements, repaid creditors, and provided a clear pathway to long term sustainability. The plan required agreement from the landlord, Warakirri Asset Management, who had been owed approximately $330,000 in rent arrears. Negotiations to resolve this position had been ongoing in good faith.
On Wednesday afternoon, after a meeting between Judo Bank and Warakirri in which Warakirri indicated they needed another week to consider the restructure proposal, the business believed matters remained constructive. Less than three hours later, Warakirri issued termination notices for both the Maffra and Drinan leases.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, security guards were deployed to both farms. Staff were removed, gates were locked, and 182 employees arriving for work were told they no longer had jobs. At no point prior to the termination did Warakirri communicate any intention to take this action.
Warakirri has taken possession of crops valued at around $2 million, produce that would have funded employee entitlements and supported payment of outstanding creditors. Stock recently harvested is already deteriorating, and there are serious concerns about the care of remaining crops. The actions taken were abrupt, aggressive and unilateral.
Ryan McLeod, Director of Dicky Bill Australia, said:
“𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ. 𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟. 𝑊𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦.
𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑖 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒. 𝐿𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠. 𝐵𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠. 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑗𝑜𝑏.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛 182 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔.
𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝐽𝑢𝑑𝑜 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑑.”
Dicky Bill Australia has always operated with integrity and transparency. Had Warakirri worked collaboratively, the business could have continued trading, preserved jobs and protected value for all stakeholders. Instead, an abrupt shutdown has inflicted avoidable harm on employees, suppliers and the surrounding communities.
With Warakirri’s actions leaving the business unable to continue operating, the Directors have no choice but to appoint a Voluntary Administrator. This is more than a business failure. It is a blow to trust, to fairness, and to a legacy built on decades of honest, hard work.
The Directors extend their sincere thanks to employees, customers, suppliers and community members who have supported the business over decades. This outcome is devastating, particularly given that a workable alternative was on the table.
