Carnarvon crime program, Exmouth tourism programs among Gascoyne projects funded by Budget

The State Government has promised funding for a swathe of projects across the Mid West and Gascoyne in its 2022-23 Budget, but little of the cash will make it outside Geraldton. With a near-record surplus of $5.7 billion, the Budget was delivered on Thursday and included $332 million for the expansion of Geraldton Port. The works will increase capacity at the port, with Mid West Ports Authority expected to increase throughput from 15 million tonnes per annum to 25 million tonnes each year by 2026. The Budget also committed 49.4m in additional funding for Geraldton Health Campus upgrades, and $4.1m to expand the Inter-Regional Flight Network across the Mid West, Pilbara and Kimberley — including adding a route between Geraldton and Karratha. A cap on regional airfares from July 1 will mean jetsetters will pay no more than $199 for flights to and from Perth and Geraldton, Meekatharra and Mt Magnet, when booked as return flights. There were few surprises for the rest of the Mid West and Gascoyne, with the State Government in April announcing it would commit $19.3m in the Budget to prepare for the Total Solar Eclipse event in Exmouth in 2023. About $2.6m will support the establishment of the Exmouth Gulf Coordinating Body, $1.3m has been allocated to expand the Target 120 program into Carnarvon in an attempt to reduce youth crime, and $11m will go towards ensuring there is a nurse always available at 24-hour emergency departments. To support the cyclone Seroja recovery effort, up to $1.6m will be spent on a grant program to subsidise training for construction workers engaged in the rebuild. An additional $4.2m will also be spent over 2021-22 to 2023-24 to address backlog issues associated with processing claims and to accelerate payment of recovery packages following the Wooroloo bushfire and cyclone Seroja. No new funding was allocated to the development of a renewable hydrogen hub at Oakajee, with $6.5m of the $7.5m previously committed to constructing an access road into the site to be spent in the 2022-23 financial year. Member for the Agricultural Region Steve Martin welcomed funding for upgrades at Geraldton Port, but said the commitment suggested Oakajee was not a priority for the State Government. “If Oakajee is not a priority now, they really need to draw a line in the sand and say we are serious about this or not,” he said. “They have the resources to do some State building and nation building at the moment, but that won’t last.” In the wake of concerns being raised about St John WA resourcing pressures in regional centres like Geraldton where great-grandmother Joan Hope recently died after waiting more than half an hour for an ambulance to arrive, $30.1m will be spent to bring 18 additional paid paramedics and six additional ambulances to regional WA. It is unknown how many of these will be based in Geraldton and the Mid West. Mr Martin welcomed the commitment, but said it would be difficult to allocate paramedics when resources were stretched almost everywhere in the bush. “It seems like a large number until you work out how large WA is. If they are evenly spread that means they will be very thinly spread,” he said. “Those paramedic roles are vital if they are in places where there is also a volunteer base, they simply make it easier to attract and retain vollies because they know the trained full timers are on hand.” Member for Moore Shane Love said he was disappointed no additional funding was allocated to revamping the Mullewa Health Centre, with the State Government previously promising $6m to the hospital upgrades. “The project is still there, but it doesn’t look to be any extra money attached to it. As we know costs have gone up since that program was first announced in 2016,” he said. “I would think they couldn’t build it for the amount of money they have on it now. We really need to see a solution for Mullewa.” Mr Love said he was also concerned no cash had been allocated to power infrastructure upgrades in the Mid West. But he said he was “guardedly optimistic” of works being announced when Western Power delivers its Budget estimates in the coming weeks.