Adelaide Friday August 17, 2018

New bid for SA-based medicinal cannabis hub

Local

A new bid to establish South Australia’s first commercial medicinal cannabis hub has been launched, with a development application lodged for a facility at McLaren Flat.

Tom Richardson @tomrichardson

Friday August 17, 2018

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A Victorian-based company, Ausabis Group, has lodged a Development Application form with Onkaparinga council for “indoor medicinal cannabis cultivation and manufacturing” on land on Foggo Road at McLaren Flat, which has been used previously as a poultry processing facility.

Ausabis bills itself as an international medical marijuana startup with interests in Australia, Canada and Fiji.

It follows a high-profile but aborted 2016 bid by the Australian Cannabis Corporation to establish a similar facility at the old Holden site at Elizabeth.

The Ausabis bid estimates its development cost at “$5 to $10 million”, but a spokesman for the company, Scott Hancox, told InDaily the interest was “very preliminary”.

“We’re just kicking the tyres in regards to the council requirements,” he said.

“The application is what it is – it’s for a medicinal cannabis manufacturing site [but] whether we end up with the one in SA… there are other sites [interstate] we’re interested in.”

Hancox said the company was “still negotiating with the landlords with regards to the site”.

“We don’t own the site – it’s for sale or lease,” he said.

Applications for medical cannabis production would also need federal approval.

Hancox said he had “reached out to members of parliament in SA” who were “fairly supportive”.

The 3100 sqm site, believed to be owned by businessman Troy deYoung, was reportedly on the market last year and expected to net offers around $2.5 million.