❓ Mr Catania asks about the progress of rebuilding Gascoyne Junction after the 2010 floods. The Minister details the new community resource centre, mobile phone tower, and the $3 million Gascoyne revitalisation plan to restore essential services.
AnsweredQoN 631Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
GASCOYNE
JUNCTION — FLOOD REHABILITATION
631. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Regional
Development:
I was in Gascoyne Junction last week to officially open the
town's new community resource centre and inspect the progress of the
rebuilding of Gascoyne Junction after the December 2010 floods. Can the
minister update the house on the work being done to rebuild the Gascoyne
community?
JUNCTION — FLOOD REHABILITATION
631. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Regional
Development:
I was in Gascoyne Junction last week to officially open the
town's new community resource centre and inspect the progress of the
rebuilding of Gascoyne Junction after the December 2010 floods. Can the
minister update the house on the work being done to rebuild the Gascoyne
community?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for North West for the question. Before I
answer, on behalf of the Minister for Health, their local member, I welcome the
students from Dudley Park Primary School. He was very insistent, and it is very
important that they are here today.
The Gascoyne Junction community was flattened by the floods
in 2010. The community was devastated by an act of nature. The member for Cockburn
said that not many people live there. That is right; not many people live
there. But it is a strong tight-knit little community and it was devastated by
the floods. This government has been determined to help this little community,
even though it does not have many people living in it and it might not make the
evening news each night. Needless to say, it has made an important contribution
to the Western Australian economy over many, many years. It is an important
community. The royalties for regions program was about making sure that it did
not matter how many people lived in a community for that community to be
important. Gascoyne Junction is a good example of that.
On the weekend, the member for North West opened the new
community resource centre—the 109 th community resource
centre in Western Australia. It is a brand-new building on Scott Street. The
CRC is a royalties for regions–funded program and provides a one-stop
shop for government information and services in regional communities free of
charge and also makes sure that we bring some of the latest information
technology and communications equipment to small communities such as Gascoyne
Junction. The new centre will contain a library, a tourist information area and
a Centrelink access point, as well as a doctor's consultation and
training room for when the doctor flies in regularly to service that small
community. The centre will also provide access to videoconferencing, and major
upgrades to the videoconferencing equipment have been made to link the Gascoyne
Junction community to the rest of the state and the world. The new centre is a
credit to the local community and will provide valuable services to the
community and surrounding properties. Also, a new mobile phone tower was
switched on in August providing the community of Gascoyne Junction and the
local region access to mobile reception for the first time. This regional
mobile tower was one of the 113 towers that have been funded by royalties for
regions across the state, and it is providing phone coverage and broadband
access to the people in Gascoyne Junction for the first time. In typical
country style, the community of Gascoyne Junction is still unhappy because the
residents are used to having very small phone bills. Now they are all using their
phones, and Vince, the member for North West, will have his job cut out trying
to provide a solution to reduce the higher phone bills—but you would
not put it past the member for North West to come up with a solution. Is it not
great that that community now has access to mobile communication facilities,
which is important for safety as well as functioning in the modern economy?
Lastly, as I mentioned, the December
2010 floods flattened the town. Through the Gascoyne revitalisation plan, $3 million
has been made available to the community to restore its essential retail and
tourist services. As people know, the historic Junction Hotel, an iconic hotel
in Western Australia, was completely destroyed, along with its accommodation
units. The general store was unusable, and the service station and local
caravan park were flattened. Construction work has now begun in Gascoyne
Junction to build a brand-new, integrated retail, tourism and accommodation
development including a tourism park, a general store, a restaurant, a service
station and, most importantly, a pub, which will be back serving beer as soon
as this project is completed.
I congratulate the member for North
West on his advocacy for this community. As has been pointed out, not that many
people live in Gascoyne Junction, but it is an important tourist route and an
important part of the Western Australian community. This community was
devastated by that flood in December 2010, and, as I see it, Leader of the
Opposition, the Premier rolled up his sleeves and got on with the job of making
sure that the community of Gascoyne Junction could be rebuilt. He is the type
of Premier who, rather than sitting on the fence, as the allegation went, got
on with doing the job—and any Premier who can bring beer back to Gascoyne
Junction has to be a damned good Premier!
answer, on behalf of the Minister for Health, their local member, I welcome the
students from Dudley Park Primary School. He was very insistent, and it is very
important that they are here today.
The Gascoyne Junction community was flattened by the floods
in 2010. The community was devastated by an act of nature. The member for Cockburn
said that not many people live there. That is right; not many people live
there. But it is a strong tight-knit little community and it was devastated by
the floods. This government has been determined to help this little community,
even though it does not have many people living in it and it might not make the
evening news each night. Needless to say, it has made an important contribution
to the Western Australian economy over many, many years. It is an important
community. The royalties for regions program was about making sure that it did
not matter how many people lived in a community for that community to be
important. Gascoyne Junction is a good example of that.
On the weekend, the member for North West opened the new
community resource centre—the 109 th community resource
centre in Western Australia. It is a brand-new building on Scott Street. The
CRC is a royalties for regions–funded program and provides a one-stop
shop for government information and services in regional communities free of
charge and also makes sure that we bring some of the latest information
technology and communications equipment to small communities such as Gascoyne
Junction. The new centre will contain a library, a tourist information area and
a Centrelink access point, as well as a doctor's consultation and
training room for when the doctor flies in regularly to service that small
community. The centre will also provide access to videoconferencing, and major
upgrades to the videoconferencing equipment have been made to link the Gascoyne
Junction community to the rest of the state and the world. The new centre is a
credit to the local community and will provide valuable services to the
community and surrounding properties. Also, a new mobile phone tower was
switched on in August providing the community of Gascoyne Junction and the
local region access to mobile reception for the first time. This regional
mobile tower was one of the 113 towers that have been funded by royalties for
regions across the state, and it is providing phone coverage and broadband
access to the people in Gascoyne Junction for the first time. In typical
country style, the community of Gascoyne Junction is still unhappy because the
residents are used to having very small phone bills. Now they are all using their
phones, and Vince, the member for North West, will have his job cut out trying
to provide a solution to reduce the higher phone bills—but you would
not put it past the member for North West to come up with a solution. Is it not
great that that community now has access to mobile communication facilities,
which is important for safety as well as functioning in the modern economy?
Lastly, as I mentioned, the December
2010 floods flattened the town. Through the Gascoyne revitalisation plan, $3 million
has been made available to the community to restore its essential retail and
tourist services. As people know, the historic Junction Hotel, an iconic hotel
in Western Australia, was completely destroyed, along with its accommodation
units. The general store was unusable, and the service station and local
caravan park were flattened. Construction work has now begun in Gascoyne
Junction to build a brand-new, integrated retail, tourism and accommodation
development including a tourism park, a general store, a restaurant, a service
station and, most importantly, a pub, which will be back serving beer as soon
as this project is completed.
I congratulate the member for North
West on his advocacy for this community. As has been pointed out, not that many
people live in Gascoyne Junction, but it is an important tourist route and an
important part of the Western Australian community. This community was
devastated by that flood in December 2010, and, as I see it, Leader of the
Opposition, the Premier rolled up his sleeves and got on with the job of making
sure that the community of Gascoyne Junction could be rebuilt. He is the type
of Premier who, rather than sitting on the fence, as the allegation went, got
on with doing the job—and any Premier who can bring beer back to Gascoyne
Junction has to be a damned good Premier!
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.