Northern fund focus
The proposed $150 million Goldfields Revitalisation Fund will have a Northern Goldfields focus, Regional Development and Lands Minister Brendon Grylls says.
The WA Nationals announced in August a $150 million revitalisation fund would be provided to the Goldfields-Esperance region, should the party prove successful at the March 9 State election. Likened to the Pilbara Cities package, it understood distribution of the fund, if secured, would fall to the Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission.
In Laverton on Friday, Mr Grylls said he would ensure the needs of the northern part of the region were not overlooked.
“I (will) tell (GEDC chairman) Jon Price and (GEDC chief executive) Robert (Hicks) that I think as Minister the Goldfields Revitalisation (fund) should have a Northern Goldfields focus,” he said. “Does that mean we are going to spend every dollar on the Northern Goldfields? No.
“But I think there has been a focus on Kalgoorlie and Boulder and Esperance and Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun (in the past).” WA Labor last week unveiled a plan to preference the Nationals party at the bottom of the ballot paper in the upcoming State election.
And Shadow Treasurer Ben Wyatt told the Kalgoorlie Miner it was hard to know if the WA Nationals election promises would be kept because they hinged on the support of the Liberal party.
