Tait who was chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland will take over has accepted a job as the chief executive of Maleny Dairies, owned by the Hopper family.

“After spending nearly 10 years advocating on behalf of Queensland’s business community, I am absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to work with another iconic company that so reflects the values of the business community I have so passionately represented during my tenure at CCIQ,” Tait announced last night.

“From February 2022 I will be joining as chief executive officer of Maleny Dairies supporting their ongoing commitment to sustainability and future growth opportunities.

“Needless to say I look forward to maintaining many of the connections and relationships that I have been fortunate to have built during my last 10 years and of course making new ones as I embark on the next exciting phase of my career with Maleny Dairies.”

It’s a significant career shift for Tait. Before heading up CCIQ he was a media executive with News Corp during and was also a senior executive of The Scotsman newspaper. He shifted to Australia to help The Courier-Mail newspaper’s transition to tabloid.

The CCIQ has yet to find a replacement for Tait.