Question Without Notice No. 347 asked in the Legislative Council on 10 May 2018 by Hon Colin De Grussa
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT — LOCATION
347. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
I refer to comments made by the minister at the opening of the Northam grains research facility on 2 May 2018 with regard to moving the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to Northam.
(1) Will the minister now commit to moving the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to Northam?
(2) What funding allocation can be found in the state budget to assist with this?
(3) Has the department provided any advice in support of moving to Northam?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(3) The member would be aware that there was a certain amount of lightness in elements of that speech. I was reflecting on what an extraordinary and fabulous place Northam is, the strength of its school, the strength of its residential college and, of course, the strength of the new research facility that we opened. So, I was reflecting on the fact that I thought there was more capacity for some of the services of the department to perhaps be decentralised there, but it was—if the member heard my speech, he would be aware—a general observation rather than any commitment at this point.