Albany Update

From Alannah's Desk

Boost for Great Southern Economic Development

Five Great Southern projects are sharing in $586,100 in Regional Economic Development (RED) Grants, further confirmation of the McGowan Government's commitment to diversifying regional economies.

 

Great Southern projects focused on local manufacturing, Aboriginal economic development and business incubation will receive a major boost through the McGowan Government's RED Grants programme, a $40.8 million initiative focused on locally-driven projects that contribute to the economic growth and development of regional Western Australia.

  • Venco Products, a specialist manufacturer of ceramics and pottery equipment, exporting nationally and internationally, will receive $190,000 in grant funding towards a new manufacturing facility in Albany.
  • A $190,000 grant will support modular home maker, Aspect Modular Pty Ltd, to relocate its operations from Perth to Denmark, investing in the purchase of land from Development WA and the construction of a manufacturing facility.
  • Gnowangerup Aboriginal Corporation and Tambellup Aboriginal Progress Association will share a $94,000 RED Grant, auspiced through South Coast Natural Resource Management, to scale up their seed collection and nursery business across Tambellup and Gnowangerup.
  • Badgebup Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) secured a $62,100 RED Grant to purchase a commercial greenhouse to support BAC's growing land-based enterprises in carbon offsetting, land regeneration, bushfoods and cultural tourism.
  • A $50,000 RED Grant will support redevelopment of the Albany Business Centre to provide more space for local start-up businesses and further business workshops and training courses.

These grants both build on existing manufacturing capabilities and bring new businesses into the Great Southern, helping to strengthen and diversify the local economy.

Supporting Communities

It was great to support the Karen Community Fundraiser in Albany, raising funds for the building of a community centre. The Karen are a hardworking community who add to both the vibrancy of Albany and to the economy. 

 

An added bonus was seeing their friends, the Tongans, at the event. Tongan and Vanuatan people have kept many of our agribusiness operators afloat during the pandemic, especially meat processing facilities in the Great Southern region. As Minister for Agriculture, I am deeply grateful to them for keeping our agriculture operations open. 

 

Our thoughts go out to the Tongan community as they deal with the after-effects of the recent volcano explosion and tsunami.

The next day, we took part in the Festival of St Nino held at St Joseph's College, a celebration of traditional Filipino culture, which had a huge attendance from across the South-West and the Great Southern. 

 

The festival started in Albany 34 years ago when the numbers of Filipinos in southern WA were still very small. Again, this is a community that does a lot of heavy lifting in the economy and adds lots of life to the community.

Boost for Regional Childcare

The McGowan Government has delivered on our commitment to fund initiatives to help attract and retain regional childcare staff.

 

Local Government Authorities can now apply for payments of up to $25,000 towards a range of different initiatives, including subsidised accommodation, relocation costs, intrastate travel, and training and professional development.

 

This will help in providing more regional parents and carers access to childcare so they can return to work. 

 

For more information, please visit https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/attraction-and-retention-packages-regional-childcare-workers-program

International Competitiveness Co-Investment Fund Grants

We’re backing our WA agrifood and beverage businesses to export to the world. 

 

Round Two of the International Competitiveness Co-investment Fund grants is now open, providing grants of up to $100,000 to agrifood and beverage businesses to help capture export markets.

 

The grants will support recipients to boost international business competitiveness by improving supply chains, market diversification, scale, product quality and capacity, as well as customer relationships to target high growth, premium export markets.

 

For more information, please visit: http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/ICCF 

 

 

Hon Alannah MacTiernan MLC | Member for the South West Region