❓ The Premier outlines the government's $320 million investment in a new agricultural research facility, highlighting its benefits for WA primary producers and building on the government's support for the agricultural sector. The Premier also praises the contributions of Hon Alannah MacTiernan.
AnsweredQoN 819Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT —HEADQUARTERS AND RESEARCH FACILITY
819. Ms R.S. STEPHENS to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to supporting Western Australia's
agricultural sector through its significant investment in research, development
and biosecurity. Can the Premier outline to this house what this government's massive $320 million investment in a new
state-of-the-art research facility for the Department of Primary
Industries and Regional Development will mean for WA primary producers, and can
the Premier advise the house how this investment builds on this government's
record of supporting WA's agricultural sector?
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT —HEADQUARTERS AND RESEARCH FACILITY
819. Ms R.S. STEPHENS to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to supporting Western Australia's
agricultural sector through its significant investment in research, development
and biosecurity. Can the Premier outline to this house what this government's massive $320 million investment in a new
state-of-the-art research facility for the Department of Primary
Industries and Regional Development will mean for WA primary producers, and can
the Premier advise the house how this investment builds on this government's
record of supporting WA's agricultural sector?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Albany for
the question. Off the top, I want to thank Hon Alannah MacTiernan for her
contribution to Western Australia—to politics in local government,
federal government, the upper house, the lower house, the City of Perth, as mayor
and councillor, and as an all-round terrific, hardworking person. I thank her
very much.
This
morning, the minister and I made a landmark announcement. We have allocated
$320 million to a world-class biosecurity and research facility for
agriculture in Western Australia. The existing facilities in South Perth are
past their use-by date, so we are now going to build a new world-class HQ for
the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development at Murdoch
University's Perth campus. It will be on 11.3 hectares of land and it
will house 350 staff. It will be a modern facility delivering world-class
science with specialist laboratories, glasshouses, an incident and emergency
management operations centre, and a headquarter and office building for the
staff who work there. We have some of the best researchers in agriculture of
anywhere in the world. Out of this, we will have one of the best research
facilities of anywhere in the world. The minister argued for this and was
successful, and I am so pleased we are able to announce this important
initiative. She has done a terrific job in agriculture.
When the minister arrived in the
portfolio, members will recall the fiscal cliff that was embedded in the budget. She repaired that. She brought it to the
Expenditure Review Committee and we reinstated $131.5 million of funding for agriculture. We hired 200 additional
staff, including many researchers. Many of them are based in regional WA ;
in fact, more than ever under the last government, so we will have more
agricultural staff in regional WA than when the Nationals WA occupied the
position of agriculture minister.
Under Hon Alannah MacTiernan, we
have also seen the $48 million grains research partnership with the Grains Research
and Development Corporation, $25 million to kickstart the Western Australian
Agricultural Research Collaboration, and $15 million for biosecurity
capabilities and emergency preparedness. We are focusing on carbon farming in
the pastoral estate for the first time. That is something completely new that
has not been done before. We have seen $14 million invested in the digital farm
program, $13 million to manage the impact of wild dogs, and $24 million to
drive value-adding, including in the food and beverage industry, I think
particularly down in Nambeelup near Mandurah. She is the state's first
Minister for Hydrogen Industry. She has organised at least $160 million of investment in renewable hydrogen.
She has led the way in renewable hydrogen in Western Australia and I suspect
that in 10 years' time, when this industry is strong and flourishing in
Western Australia, people will look back at Hon Alannah MacTiernan as the
mother of the industry. It is a terrific achievement.
There is so much more that she has
done over her political career, including, of course—one that is close
to mine and the member for Mandurah's heart—the railway to
Rockingham. The railway to Mandurah, sorry! The railway to Rockingham and Mandurah and all the other places in between. She did
a great job in delivering that, against great opposition at the time. I remember
the motions being moved by the Liberal Party and the Nationals WA against it.
She stood up to that and delivered the railway. One thing I will say about Alannah
in closing: she is one of the great doers of Western Australian political
history.
the question. Off the top, I want to thank Hon Alannah MacTiernan for her
contribution to Western Australia—to politics in local government,
federal government, the upper house, the lower house, the City of Perth, as mayor
and councillor, and as an all-round terrific, hardworking person. I thank her
very much.
This
morning, the minister and I made a landmark announcement. We have allocated
$320 million to a world-class biosecurity and research facility for
agriculture in Western Australia. The existing facilities in South Perth are
past their use-by date, so we are now going to build a new world-class HQ for
the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development at Murdoch
University's Perth campus. It will be on 11.3 hectares of land and it
will house 350 staff. It will be a modern facility delivering world-class
science with specialist laboratories, glasshouses, an incident and emergency
management operations centre, and a headquarter and office building for the
staff who work there. We have some of the best researchers in agriculture of
anywhere in the world. Out of this, we will have one of the best research
facilities of anywhere in the world. The minister argued for this and was
successful, and I am so pleased we are able to announce this important
initiative. She has done a terrific job in agriculture.
When the minister arrived in the
portfolio, members will recall the fiscal cliff that was embedded in the budget. She repaired that. She brought it to the
Expenditure Review Committee and we reinstated $131.5 million of funding for agriculture. We hired 200 additional
staff, including many researchers. Many of them are based in regional WA ;
in fact, more than ever under the last government, so we will have more
agricultural staff in regional WA than when the Nationals WA occupied the
position of agriculture minister.
Under Hon Alannah MacTiernan, we
have also seen the $48 million grains research partnership with the Grains Research
and Development Corporation, $25 million to kickstart the Western Australian
Agricultural Research Collaboration, and $15 million for biosecurity
capabilities and emergency preparedness. We are focusing on carbon farming in
the pastoral estate for the first time. That is something completely new that
has not been done before. We have seen $14 million invested in the digital farm
program, $13 million to manage the impact of wild dogs, and $24 million to
drive value-adding, including in the food and beverage industry, I think
particularly down in Nambeelup near Mandurah. She is the state's first
Minister for Hydrogen Industry. She has organised at least $160 million of investment in renewable hydrogen.
She has led the way in renewable hydrogen in Western Australia and I suspect
that in 10 years' time, when this industry is strong and flourishing in
Western Australia, people will look back at Hon Alannah MacTiernan as the
mother of the industry. It is a terrific achievement.
There is so much more that she has
done over her political career, including, of course—one that is close
to mine and the member for Mandurah's heart—the railway to
Rockingham. The railway to Mandurah, sorry! The railway to Rockingham and Mandurah and all the other places in between. She did
a great job in delivering that, against great opposition at the time. I remember
the motions being moved by the Liberal Party and the Nationals WA against it.
She stood up to that and delivered the railway. One thing I will say about Alannah
in closing: she is one of the great doers of Western Australian political
history.
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