State Government probes ‘exciting revitalisation’ of DPIRD site as staff work across several locations

The State Government is probing how to transform the asbestos-riddled Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development site into an “exciting revitalisation project” while its staff remain displaced without a permanent home. The 22ha site at 3 Baron-Hay Court — which is riddled with asbestos — is expected to become empty within weeks after staff first started moving into several different offices about four years ago due to asbestos concerns. Staff have since been spread across 1 Nash Street and 140 William Street in Perth, as well as at Murdoch University, and other offices in Hillarys, Fremantle and Rockingham — while many have been working from home. DPIRD staff are also based at the State Biosecurity Centre in Canning Vale, with others working at field plots in Shenton Park and diagnostic and laboratory services staff basing themselves across “several laboratories” in the Perth area. WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis this month announced plans for 100 researchers to soon move into a leased site at Jandakot after it secured a 10-year lease for a new research and development centre in an “established facility”. The $55 million plan also includes the leasing of a separate 5.5ha site at Wanneroo — a 45-minute drive from the Jandakot facility — for plot trials set to begin next year, including grain, pastures and irrigated agriculture. Ms Jarvis told reporters the investment in the Jandakot site was a “medium-term solution” while the State Government continued to investigate where to build a budgeted $320 million metro facility to house DPIRD more permanently. “The Cook Government remains fully committed to providing a long term fit-for purpose metropolitan facility for DPIRD, with $320m set aside in the Budget,” she said. “In the interim, the new Primary Industries Research Centre (in Jandakot) and the State Biosecurity Response Centre (in Canning Vale) represent the largest investment of any government into DPIRD’s metropolitan facilities in decades.” The Kensington site has now been listed on the residential projects site of the Development WA website, with a blurb saying it could one day be home to homes as well as commercial development including offices, shops and parks. According to the website, the State Government is in the “very early stages” of investigating the site and surrounding area, saying it would be “transitioned over time” from State hands. “This redevelopment project will be delivered in stages to facilitate the future decommissioning of existing State Government operations from the site,” the website said. DPIRD staff and farmers who rely on their work were left hopeful when former WA agriculture minister Alannah MacTiernan announced plans for the State Government department to be permanently housed at a new site at Murdoch University. It was set to be her final legacy before retiring from Parliament in January 2023, ending nearly three decades of debate about where DPIRD or its former iterations — including the Department of Agriculture and Food — should be based. But hopes were dashed five months later when the State Government pulled those plans, saying it would be too “difficult to build” at Murdoch and it would instead go back to the drawing board. A State Government spokeswoman said nearly all DPRID staff had moved out of the Kensington office and would have the option to “attend one of the various DPIRD offices” as “part of their weekly workplace routine”. “Once the South Perth site is fully vacated, the site will be decommissioned and handed over for remediation and redevelopment,” she said. The closure of 3 Baron-Hay Court has impacted a number of other organisations once housed at the site, including the Australian Export Grain Innovation Centre, Grower Group Alliance and Safe Farms WA. DPIRD was created in July 2018, as a Labor-led merger of two former departments — the Department of Agriculture and Food and the separate Department of Regional Development. DPIRD TIMELINE July 2018: DPIRD is formed out of the former Agriculture and Food, and Fisheries and Regional Development departments . April 2019: WA Government announces plans to spend $131.5m to boost DPIRD’s core funding, which includes $3.3m upgrading its laboratories. 2021: Relocation of more than 100 administration staff to East Perth. December 2022: WA Government announces $320m to build the new DPIRD Biosecurity and Research Facility at Murdoch University. 2023: WA Government scraps plans for Murdoch facility, saying the site is too small. June 2024: DPIRD Laboratories closed at Kensington, AEGIC’s milling, baking and testing facility also impacted . May 2022: $3.3m upgrade to DPIRD’s laboratories unveiled. November 2024: $97m State Biosecurity Response Centre opens in Canning Vale. October 2025: WA Government announces plan to set up a $55m, 2.75ha site for research and development functions at Jandakot, as well as a 5.5ha trial plot site at Wanneroo.