Nationals Geraldton candidate Kirrilee Warr makes first election promise for $45m local rescue chopper

Nationals WA Geraldton candidate Kirrilee Warr has unveiled her first State election promise ahead of the 2025 poll — $45 million towards a rescue helicopter for the Mid West. She said having a chopper based in the Mid West to service the Mid West and northern WA was a non-negotiable. “It saves lives. It’s as simple as that,” said Ms Warr, whose day job remains the president of the Shire of Chapman Valley. “A rescue helicopter based out of Geraldton will have the capacity to save lives relating to road trauma, provide rescue at sea, help with search and rescue operations or in an emergency, and rapidly transport patients to Perth for medical treatment. “The Mid West is the largest population area in WA without rescue helicopter coverage.” As it stands, the two rescue helicopters in WA are based in Jandakot and Bunbury, with a tank that can get the aircraft from Perth to Dongara before it needs to be refuelled. Geraldton resident Ian Dempsey organised a community-based petition that garnered 1000 signatures supporting a local emergency helicopter. “It’s a shame we need to see a change of government for this to happen,” he said. Mr Dempsey believes the State Government could pick up the bill for the aircraft easily. In March, the Shire of Northampton unanimously approved a motion to draft a proposal for a rescue helicopter to be based at Geraldton Airport. It will bring the matter to the WA Local Government Association’s northern country zone meeting next month. A Chief Health Officer’s aeromedical inquiry published in 2022 concluded there was a strong case for a rescue helicopter in the Mid West. “There were almost 3000 priority one ambulance cases within 400km of Geraldton in 2020-21, giving a clear indication of the need for a rescue chopper,” Opposition Leader and Moore MP Shane Love said. In the last four years, there’s been more than 1800 crashes including 46 fatalities in the Mid West. Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson has previously stated the emergency rescue helicopter service has the ability to cover 90 per cent of the State’s population from its current bases, and new choppers were expected to be online this year, although would not based in the Mid West. Geraldton MLA Lara Dalton has previously said she was “strongly advocating for a new emergency helicopter to be based in Geraldton”.