REGIONAL TRAINEESHIP PROGRAM
1484. Hon KYLE McGINN to the Minister for Regional Development:
In regard to the positive
announcement of the regional traineeship program—instead of throwing
stones without facts—I refer to Hon Robin Scott's member's
statement yesterday evening and the distribution of grants throughout
the Mining and Pastoral Region.
(1) How many
community resource centres and shires in the Mining and Pastoral Region are
eligible for regional traineeship grants?
(2) How many CRCs
and shires in the Mining and Pastoral Region applied for regional traineeship
grants?
(3) How many CRCs
and shires in the Mining and Pastoral Region applied for grants and were
unsuccessful?
Several members
interjected.
The PRESIDENT: Order!
Minister! Minister, I have not actually given you the call yet. I was just
asking people to be quiet so that I could give you the call so we could all
hear your answer.
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
Thank you, Madam President.
(1)–(3) I
thank Hon Kyle McGinn for that question, and I know he was quite outraged by
the ill-informed comments that were made by Hon Robin Scott last night during
members' statements. Therefore, let me make it very clear that I have
been concerned for quite some time about the distribution of the training
opportunities across the state, and for that reason, I added the capacity for
the smaller shires to come in and participate in these training opportunities.
There are, in fact, in the Mining and
Pastoral Region, 23 community resource centres and six shires that are eligible
and were directly invited to apply for the regional traineeship program. Unfortunately,
only one CRC—that of Halls Creek—applied, and, of course, it
was approved for funding. But I do share the concern about the support that has
been given to the CRCs outside the wheatbelt and the great southern, which is
one of the reasons I have reviewed those support arrangements, hoping that we
can get something that is more locally focused.