❓ The Minister outlines the Onslow desalination plant project, detailing its benefits for water security, job creation, and economic support in the region, highlighting funding sources and community engagement.
AnsweredQoN 619Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ONSLOW
DESALINATION PLANT
619. Ms A.E. KENT to the Minister for Water:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment to
creating local job opportunities in regional Western Australia. Can the
minister outline how the construction of the Onslow desalination plant will
deliver water security to regional residents and businesses and create hundreds
of new local jobs?
DESALINATION PLANT
619. Ms A.E. KENT to the Minister for Water:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment to
creating local job opportunities in regional Western Australia. Can the
minister outline how the construction of the Onslow desalination plant will
deliver water security to regional residents and businesses and create hundreds
of new local jobs?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. I know that water
security is an important issue for her community, as it is for the whole state,
but particularly for regional areas as the climate warms and rainfall reduces
and becomes less reliable. This is an issue that this government is confronting
and managing. Labor governments have a strong history
of investing in forward-thinking water source projects. The project that the
member referred to is no different . Onslow will become home to the first
regional WA public drinking water desalination plant that will supply regional
communities. It is a desalination plant in regional Western Australia that will
supply water to the regional community. It
is a $94 million investment, and it will help secure the community's
long-term drinking water supplies . It will also support the local
economy, reduce reliance on groundwater and meet the needs of a growing
population. I acknowledge Chevron, which, through its Wheatstone project, is
providing $69 million in funding towards stages 1 and 2 of the project, under a
longstanding state development agreement requiring a company to fund projects
that deliver lasting community benefits in Onslow and across the Pilbara. This
is a $94 million project, $69 million of which will come from Chevron under its
state development obligations. The remaining $25.3 million will come from the
state government to deliver this water security program.
This desalination project is an important project. It will
deliver half a gigalitre of water a year, or 1.5 million litres of drinking
water each day. As I said, it is part of delivering Onslow's long-term
drinking water supply. It includes an upgrade to the surrounding Cane River
bore field, to improve scheme reliability. That was a $13.7 million investment
that was completed in 2023. It included upgrades to the pump station, a new
power station, electrical supply to bores to enable remote operation and, of
course, the desalination plant. The plant will cost $80.3 million and is scheduled
for completion in 2026. I was pleased to join upper house member Hon Peter
Foster, along with representatives from Chevron and the Water Corporation,
local businesses that will benefit from the project, and the president of the
Shire of Ashburton, Audra Smith, and CEO Kenn Donohoe, to acknowledge our cliched
but very important sod turning. Members will be grateful to know that we were
not relying on five people with shovels to start the earthworks; some important
civil works had already started there. We were up there to look at the site and
acknowledge the beginning of the construction process.
As I said, the project has started.
It is expected to double the future needs of Onslow by 2045 due to population
and industry growth. The proposed site shifted a few times after consultation.
There were extensive investigations with the community and stakeholder
engagement on the plan, including the Shire of Ashburton and traditional
owners. Following commission, water supply to Onslow will be blended from the
bore fields and the desalination plant to improve the aesthetic quality of the
work. The work is expected to create more than 300 jobs and see about 10 per
cent of those jobs directed to local businesses. The work will be done by
Guidera O'Connor. The contract was
awarded in 2023. The trunk main, which is a 2.5-kilometre pipeline connecting
the plant to storage tanks along
Onslow Road, will be delivered by north west Aboriginal business Kimberley
Civil and Drainage, which the Water
Corporation has been working with quite a bit. These are good examples of
Aboriginal-controlled businesses that
are getting the benefits of this sort of investment in infrastructure in the
Pilbara and Kimberley. Also, Guidera O'Connor has committed to
employing Aboriginal employees and apprentices and trainees as part of its contract.
In
addition, $7.2 million, or 13 per cent of the total contract sum, will be
subcontracted to Muguriyarra, which is a 50–50 joint venture partnership between NTC Contracting
and JLAH Contracting, which is a Thalanyji–Ngarluma-owned business. Again, there are Aboriginal-controlled
interests in some of the contracting work that has been done. There are
other examples of the subcontract work that is going out to local business.
Again, there will be a $94 million
upgrade to the water supply in Onslow, including upgrades to the bores, as well
as an $80 million desalination plant, delivering water security and
climate-independent water sources and investing in not only that community, but
also the businesses that that community will rely on.
security is an important issue for her community, as it is for the whole state,
but particularly for regional areas as the climate warms and rainfall reduces
and becomes less reliable. This is an issue that this government is confronting
and managing. Labor governments have a strong history
of investing in forward-thinking water source projects. The project that the
member referred to is no different . Onslow will become home to the first
regional WA public drinking water desalination plant that will supply regional
communities. It is a desalination plant in regional Western Australia that will
supply water to the regional community. It
is a $94 million investment, and it will help secure the community's
long-term drinking water supplies . It will also support the local
economy, reduce reliance on groundwater and meet the needs of a growing
population. I acknowledge Chevron, which, through its Wheatstone project, is
providing $69 million in funding towards stages 1 and 2 of the project, under a
longstanding state development agreement requiring a company to fund projects
that deliver lasting community benefits in Onslow and across the Pilbara. This
is a $94 million project, $69 million of which will come from Chevron under its
state development obligations. The remaining $25.3 million will come from the
state government to deliver this water security program.
This desalination project is an important project. It will
deliver half a gigalitre of water a year, or 1.5 million litres of drinking
water each day. As I said, it is part of delivering Onslow's long-term
drinking water supply. It includes an upgrade to the surrounding Cane River
bore field, to improve scheme reliability. That was a $13.7 million investment
that was completed in 2023. It included upgrades to the pump station, a new
power station, electrical supply to bores to enable remote operation and, of
course, the desalination plant. The plant will cost $80.3 million and is scheduled
for completion in 2026. I was pleased to join upper house member Hon Peter
Foster, along with representatives from Chevron and the Water Corporation,
local businesses that will benefit from the project, and the president of the
Shire of Ashburton, Audra Smith, and CEO Kenn Donohoe, to acknowledge our cliched
but very important sod turning. Members will be grateful to know that we were
not relying on five people with shovels to start the earthworks; some important
civil works had already started there. We were up there to look at the site and
acknowledge the beginning of the construction process.
As I said, the project has started.
It is expected to double the future needs of Onslow by 2045 due to population
and industry growth. The proposed site shifted a few times after consultation.
There were extensive investigations with the community and stakeholder
engagement on the plan, including the Shire of Ashburton and traditional
owners. Following commission, water supply to Onslow will be blended from the
bore fields and the desalination plant to improve the aesthetic quality of the
work. The work is expected to create more than 300 jobs and see about 10 per
cent of those jobs directed to local businesses. The work will be done by
Guidera O'Connor. The contract was
awarded in 2023. The trunk main, which is a 2.5-kilometre pipeline connecting
the plant to storage tanks along
Onslow Road, will be delivered by north west Aboriginal business Kimberley
Civil and Drainage, which the Water
Corporation has been working with quite a bit. These are good examples of
Aboriginal-controlled businesses that
are getting the benefits of this sort of investment in infrastructure in the
Pilbara and Kimberley. Also, Guidera O'Connor has committed to
employing Aboriginal employees and apprentices and trainees as part of its contract.
In
addition, $7.2 million, or 13 per cent of the total contract sum, will be
subcontracted to Muguriyarra, which is a 50–50 joint venture partnership between NTC Contracting
and JLAH Contracting, which is a Thalanyji–Ngarluma-owned business. Again, there are Aboriginal-controlled
interests in some of the contracting work that has been done. There are
other examples of the subcontract work that is going out to local business.
Again, there will be a $94 million
upgrade to the water supply in Onslow, including upgrades to the bores, as well
as an $80 million desalination plant, delivering water security and
climate-independent water sources and investing in not only that community, but
also the businesses that that community will rely on.
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