South West News
Agri-Food Grants
Our local agrifood and beverage industry is adjusting to the 'new normal' of doing business in a global pandemic: embracing new strategies and technologies to capture a share of high value, premium export markets, and we’re backing that effort.
Recently, we announced more than $1 million in grants to 19 businesses looking to grow their export markets.
Brownes Dairy will use its $82,969 funding towards re-establishing its dairy products in Singapore, after the market suffered during Covid-19. The contribution will assist Brownes to re-introduce its branded yoghurt to Singapore consumers via retail supermarkets and online platforms, using the base to launch its branded cheese product to gourmet outlets and extend its overseas footprint.
Our International Competitiveness Co-investment Fund grants provide the impetus for WA agrifood and beverage enterprises to invest in international markets for their products, supporting local jobs and local economies across our regions.
World Hydrogen Summit
It was fantastic to participate in the recent Austrade panel session about developing global hydrogen supply chains at the World Hydrogen Summit 2022. The Summit made it clear that there is no time to waste if we are to get in on the ground floor of this truly massive new industry.
Bravo Apple Boost
I applaud the success of the WA-bred Bravo apple and celebrate its rising popularity in Australia and around the world, with exports set to more than double this season.
It was fitting to be at Fremantle Port recently from where millions of WA apples have been exported to the world for more than 85 years.
The shipment of the striking burgundy apples was destined for Dubai, while there will be other shipments destined for Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong in coming months.
Bravo has continued to build on the legacy of respected apple breeder, the late John Cripps AO, with a high-performance variety that not only looks appealing and tastes great, but also yields well under Australian conditions.
Bravo apples are a true WA success story and we’re proud to continue backing our growers with this one-of-a-kind fruit.
Boer War Commemoration
In late May, I spent the afternoon with the Albany RSL commemorating the Boer War. I dusted off my grandfather’s medals to attend.
War always brings terrible devastation, and commemorations should never glorify war, but together we celebrated the goodness and decency in people caught up in these tragedies.
REDs Grants Now Open
The McGowan Government has opened the fifth round of the Regional Economic Development (RED) Grants programme, which will see $5 million invested towards regional projects that support jobs and business opportunities.
Funding is available for projects that support jobs, expand or diversify industry, develop skills, increase business productivity and attract new investment to the regions.
The McGowan Government has committed $45.8 million over eight years towards the RED Grants programme.
The first four rounds of the programme are helping to deliver 263 business and community-driven projects across regional Western Australia.
Applications are now open and close on August 24, 2022.
More information about the RED Grants programme, including guidelines and application details, are available at www.drd.wa.gov.au/rfr/REDG/ or through the State's nine Regional Development Commissions.
ARM Nursery is one of those fantastic regional business stories. Out of their premises in Capel, Steve Partridge and Rachel Lancaster supply high-quality grafted grapevines for the wine and table grape industry right across WA and the country. It’s a critically important part of the viticulture industry, but it is hard and laborious work, individually removing buds from rootstock by hand, before they can be grafted for use by growers.
Through our RED Grants, we provided around $120,000 to ARM Nursery to adopt new technology to speed up the process with machinery that takes on the more tedious work, and allows staff at the business to focus on important quality control.
This sort of investment into labour-saving devices is critical for our horticulture and viticulture industries, reducing our reliance on seasonal workers, and allowing businesses to instead invest into high-tech jobs.
Shearing Industry Update
It was great to meet with the WA Shearing Industry Association recently: they are a cornerstone of our iconic wool industry. We spent time talking about how wool fibre must replace synthetics if we are to decarbonise and reduce plastics in oceans.
We also discussed shearing training and the best pathway for the future, with a big focus on improving safety, especially by looking at new technology that will make this tough job a little easier. Keep those shears clicking!
Hon. Alannah MacTiernan | Member for the South West Region