❓ The Minister for Regional Development provides an update on the latest funding round for regional events, highlighting the economic and social benefits, including events in Kalgoorlie and other regional areas, funded through the Regional Events Scheme.
AnsweredQoN 160Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
REGIONAL
EVENTS SCHEME — FUNDING ROUND
160. Ms W.M. DUNCAN to the Minister for Regional
Development:
Can the minister update the house on the latest funding round
for regional events, including some to be held in my electorate of Kalgoorlie,
and the benefit of these events to regional communities?
EVENTS SCHEME — FUNDING ROUND
160. Ms W.M. DUNCAN to the Minister for Regional
Development:
Can the minister update the house on the latest funding round
for regional events, including some to be held in my electorate of Kalgoorlie,
and the benefit of these events to regional communities?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for the question. The
Minister for Tourism and I have worked through the applications. We recently
announced that 55 events have received funding in the latest round of the
regional events scheme. It is a mix of funding between royalties for regions
and Eventscorp, and the project is being managed by Eventscorp. It has done a
really good job of prioritising these projects, many of them new. We all know
that regional tourism plays an important role in many communities, including in
Collie, and that regional events have economic and social benefits as well as
increasing the vibrancy of regional communities and adding to visitor numbers
and the like, which is good for the community as a whole.
In this round, 17 new events have been funded for the first
time, including the Gascoyne Food Festival in Carnarvon, in the electorate of
the member for North West Central, on 15–17 August, which will
celebrate the fresh produce grown in the region with a growers' market,
cooking demonstrations, live music and a long table lunch with celebrity chefs.
A new, first-time event is the Murchison Astrofest, which is to be held at the
Murchison settlement. This is an overnight camping festival that will combine
astronomy and Aboriginal culture. The main focus of the event is the
international science project the Square Kilometre Array. Participants will get
the chance to meet and discuss the project with astronomers from the CSIRO. The
event will also include Aboriginal bush food demonstrations, guided walks with
a Wajarri bush professor, local art, live didgeridoo music and a celestial
night tour, with telescopes to view the moon and Mars. I am particularly happy
that Eventscorp is looking at how it can combine Indigenous culture and tourism
opportunities in regional events. Indigenous events are an untapped opportunity
for tourism, and Eventscorp is working hard to drive that development.
The scheme will continue to support
popular events such as the Truffle Kerfuffle in Manjimup, the Ningaloo Whale
Shark Festival in Exmouth, the WA Circus Festival in Karridale, Grapes and
Gallops in Mount Barker—which I am sure many of the young students in
the gallery today are looking forward to attending later in the year—and
the Busselton Jetty Swim in the Treasurer's electorate. The scheme also
supports a wide variety of events. In the member for Kalgoorlie's
electorate, there is the WA Goldfields PGA Championship, which is a 72-hole
professional golf tournament on the outstanding golf course there that forms
part of the Consolidated PGA Tour of Australasia order of merit. It will
include golfing clinics with Graham Marsh and question and answer sessions with
Graham and Peter O'Malley. Lastly, there is the Goldfields Cyclassic,
the richest handicap cycling race in Australia, which will be held in Leonora
as part of the Leonora Golden Gift.
Numerous events are held across regional Western Australia
funded through Eventscorp and royalties for regions, and these add to the
vibrancy of our great state.
Minister for Tourism and I have worked through the applications. We recently
announced that 55 events have received funding in the latest round of the
regional events scheme. It is a mix of funding between royalties for regions
and Eventscorp, and the project is being managed by Eventscorp. It has done a
really good job of prioritising these projects, many of them new. We all know
that regional tourism plays an important role in many communities, including in
Collie, and that regional events have economic and social benefits as well as
increasing the vibrancy of regional communities and adding to visitor numbers
and the like, which is good for the community as a whole.
In this round, 17 new events have been funded for the first
time, including the Gascoyne Food Festival in Carnarvon, in the electorate of
the member for North West Central, on 15–17 August, which will
celebrate the fresh produce grown in the region with a growers' market,
cooking demonstrations, live music and a long table lunch with celebrity chefs.
A new, first-time event is the Murchison Astrofest, which is to be held at the
Murchison settlement. This is an overnight camping festival that will combine
astronomy and Aboriginal culture. The main focus of the event is the
international science project the Square Kilometre Array. Participants will get
the chance to meet and discuss the project with astronomers from the CSIRO. The
event will also include Aboriginal bush food demonstrations, guided walks with
a Wajarri bush professor, local art, live didgeridoo music and a celestial
night tour, with telescopes to view the moon and Mars. I am particularly happy
that Eventscorp is looking at how it can combine Indigenous culture and tourism
opportunities in regional events. Indigenous events are an untapped opportunity
for tourism, and Eventscorp is working hard to drive that development.
The scheme will continue to support
popular events such as the Truffle Kerfuffle in Manjimup, the Ningaloo Whale
Shark Festival in Exmouth, the WA Circus Festival in Karridale, Grapes and
Gallops in Mount Barker—which I am sure many of the young students in
the gallery today are looking forward to attending later in the year—and
the Busselton Jetty Swim in the Treasurer's electorate. The scheme also
supports a wide variety of events. In the member for Kalgoorlie's
electorate, there is the WA Goldfields PGA Championship, which is a 72-hole
professional golf tournament on the outstanding golf course there that forms
part of the Consolidated PGA Tour of Australasia order of merit. It will
include golfing clinics with Graham Marsh and question and answer sessions with
Graham and Peter O'Malley. Lastly, there is the Goldfields Cyclassic,
the richest handicap cycling race in Australia, which will be held in Leonora
as part of the Leonora Golden Gift.
Numerous events are held across regional Western Australia
funded through Eventscorp and royalties for regions, and these add to the
vibrancy of our great state.
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