He said the reason behind the meetings was to support the diversity and significant contribution that regional areas made to the economic and social prosperity of WA.

As a result, they were a priority for the Government.

Cabinet meetings will be held in:

Albany on 29 June; Geraldton on 3 August; and Bunbury on 19 October.

Albany was selected for the site of this Government’s first Regional Cabinet meeting as it was the first place of British settlement in Western Australia. It has a long Indigenous history, with the culture and traditions of the original inhabitants respected and preserved for future generations.

“Visits to these three regional centres are not just for the purpose of conducting Regional Cabinet meetings,” Mr Barnett said.

“They are also an opportunity for local people to meet Ministers and raise concerns both formally and informally, for the local government authority and regional development commission to inform Government of local issues, initiatives and challenges and for Ministers to visit sites and organisations directly related to their portfolios.”

New Albany Health Campus on track.

Development of the new Albany Health Campus is well on track with procurement planning at an advanced stage, a community reference group established and a new website launched, showing the Liberal-National Government is about progress, not just promises.

Health Minister Kim Hames said the $135million campus would be a purpose-built facility providing modern and expanded services to enhance the quality of patient care and safety for more than 50,000 local residents.

“The State Government commissioned an expert procurement options analysis for the new facility earlier this year which has recommended that a fast-track approach with early contractor involvement be used to build the facility,” Dr Hames said.

• Great Southern GP Network

• Great Southern Development Commission

• Medical Advisory Committee chairperson

• City of Albany

• Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry

• Great Southern Aboriginal Health Advisory Group Council

• Silver Chain Albany

• St John Ambulance Albany

• Albany Health Campus Development Project Working Group representative.

Local physiotherapist Andrew Partington has been appointed as the Minister’s representative. WA Country Health Service regional director Robert Pulsford will be the chair.

An Albany Health Campus website has been launched today to provide information on the progress of the development. This will complement regular updates and information provided to staff working at the hospital and wider input into the planned development.

“The State Government wants to ensure the community has an opportunity to contribute to the consultation process and provide feedback on issues relating to the development,” Dr Hames said.

“Our actions show that we are going to deliver this project and make real progress - not just promises like the previous Labor government.”

Preparatory site work on the project is planned to commence towards the end of 2010 with main construction works for the campus expected to start in early 2011, targeting completion of new buildings by the end of 2012, ready for operation in 2013.

For further information about opportunities for consultation and feedback, or to view the Terms of Reference for the Albany Health Campus Development Community Reference Group, go to http://www.wacountry.health.wa.go v.au/albanyhealthcampus

New sciences building for Albany campus.

The State Government will contribute $3million towards a new sciences building at The University of WA’s Albany campus.

Premier Colin Barnett said the new facility would be a major boost to higher education in the Great Southern region.

He said the State Government’s commitment to the project included $1.5million over three years through the Royalties for Regions program and $1.5million from the Department of Education Services.

“This is a $6million development that will provide some exciting opportunities and great benefits for the people of Albany and surrounding regions,” Mr Barnett said.

“The new building and its associated research and teaching programs will give the Albany community better access to a tertiary education at one of Australia’s best universities.”

The new 1,000 square metre building would provide additional classrooms, a science-medical library and 12 academic offices. It would also:

• provide a boost for the Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management in earth and environmental sciences in the Great Southern Region

• allow for an expansion of the Rural Clinical School, where budding doctors can spend a year of their training in rural medicine

• provide additional space for research staff and postgraduate students

• provide more teaching and laboratory space for existing programs and future growth.

Education Minister Liz Constable said the new facility would allow UWA to offer more Albany-based courses and provide an additional incentive for young people to study - and remain - in the local community.

“The expansion of the Rural Clinical School will provide a direct benefit to the social infrastructure of Albany and surrounding areas,” Dr Constable said.

“Medical students from UWA and the University of Notre Dame will have year-long placements in Albany, allowing them to engage with the local community and reverse the drain of students to Perth.”

The Premier said the Royalties for Regions funding would be provided through the first round of the Regional Grants Scheme announced in Albany today.

He said $500,000 would be provided for the new building in the first round, with another $500,000 to be allocated in each of the next two years of the grants scheme.

“The key goals of the Regional Grants Scheme are to attract investment, increase jobs and improve the quality of life in regional Western Australia,” Mr Barnett said.

“The funding for the new sciences building will bring some great benefits that fit perfectly with these goals for people in regional areas.

“They include employment opportunities with the design, construction and fit-out of the building and the opportunity for at least eight new academic, technical and administrative staff when the building is finished.

“Other direct employment and economic outcomes can be anticipated as a direct result of research into commercialisation of native plants at the university.”

Leisure Centre funding

Sport and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron today announced the State Government would allocate $3million of its $8million election commitment to Albany towards the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre (ALAC) Stage 2 project.

The allocation enables the City of Albany to secure $2.9million in Federal funding being offered towards the project.

“I am proud to announce that the State Government will put part of its election commitment to Albany towards the leisure centre upgrades, allowing Albany to take advantage of the Federal funding it has so wonderfully secured,” Mr Waldron said.

“The Liberal-National Government is about progress, not just promises.”

The ALAC Stage 2 project involves the construction of three new indoor netball-basketball courts, designed to host grassroots-level sports up to international standard competitions, as well as community-based events.

“The project will result in a good outcome for the Albany community and benefit numerous sporting and community groups which use the facility,” the Minister said.

“The Government believes this is a sound investment for the region as the project will encourage greater participation in physical activity. Research shows this makes people happier and healthier, and communities stronger and safer in the process.

“In fact, this project is anticipated to increase visitations at the centre, and therefore community participation in physical activity, by 60,000 visits in the first year and an additional 140,000 visits per year after five years.”

The Minister said the upgrades would help to ease pressure on existing facilities, which were struggling to meet the needs of the growing Albany population.

“I am delighted that the State Government has been given this opportunity to deliver very quickly on part of its election promise to the people of Albany, who will soon be enjoying the benefits of this investment as a result,” he said.

New mobile service for Albany Visitor Centre.

The Albany Visitor Centre will soon be able to provide a mobile information service, thanks to a new State Government program.

Tourism Minister Liz Constable said the mobile service would allow the centre to directly help visiting tourists at a variety of regional events and functions.

“This portable visitor information booth will enable staff to provide their award-winning service direct to the thousands of tourists who visit the centre every year,” Dr Constable said.

“It will provide an on-site outlet to distribute tourism and event information and is a very welcome addition to the already professional service provided by the Albany Visitor Centre every day of the week.”

The Minister visited the Albany Visitor Centre and presented a $19,500 cheque to centre manager Donelle Cameron to be used for the mobile tourism service.

The money is part of a $3million State Government program to improve visitor servicing throughout Western Australia.

Ms Cameron said the mobile unit would be beneficial for two reasons - it would capture larger event crowds and take pressure off an already busy visitor centre.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the visitor centre and will allow us to be ready to go anywhere, at any time,” Ms Cameron said.

“This would include a welcoming for one of the many cruise ships that come into port or the many events held throughout the year, such as the Agricultural show.

“We think strong customer focus is extremely important and the continued improvements in servicing will ensure a quality experience for visitors to the region.”

Dr Constable said digital communications and point-of-sale equipment would be included to enable booth operators to remain in touch with the Albany Visitor Centre.

Ancient camping and fishing area saved

Responsibility for an area of great heritage significance was handed to its traditional owners today at a ceremony at an ancient Aboriginal site in Albany.

The fish traps at Oyster Harbour have been managed by the National Trust since 1966 when they were under threat from development. They are part of a much larger area where local Noongar people have been gathering for at least 7,500 years. In 1791, Captain George Vancouver noted them on an exploration expedition.

The fish traps consist of eight weirs that extend along the north end of Oyster Harbour. They are made from thousands of stones in which branches are positioned vertically, then horizontally to trap fish when the tide recedes. The fish are then speared.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Kim Hames said that by handing the ownership and management of the site to the Albany Heritage Reference Group Aboriginal Corporation, the State was preserving a piece of Australia’s cultural heritage for all.

“Working with the Department of Indigenous Affairs, the City of Albany, South Coast Natural Resource Management, Green Corps and the National Trust, the Albany Heritage Reference Group will be developing a community management plan for the fish traps,” Dr Hames said.

Heritage Minister John Castrilli said the site held special significance because it was the first heritage place vested in the National Trust of Australia (WA).

“It gives me great pleasure to join with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs as we pass the responsibility for the Oyster Harbour Fish Traps and reserve to the Albany Heritage Reference Group Aboriginal Corporation and the traditional owners of Menang country,” Mr Castrilli said.

“This most valuable and unique site has been passed to the traditional owners to enable its conservation and interpretation as a cultural heritage educational resource for the local community.”

Dr Rosalind Lawe Davies, vice president of the National Trust, said her board was extremely pleased that this most valuable and unique Aboriginal site had been passed to the traditional custodians.

“This move will enable conservation and interpretation of the site as a cultural heritage educational resource for the local community,” Dr Lawe Davies said.

Albany pioneer cottage highlights State’s heritage

Heritage Minister John Castrilli today announced that one of Western Australia’s oldest residences would be placed permanently on the State Register of Heritage Places.

The 177-year-old Patrick Taylor Cottage was one of the first homes built for settlers in Albany.

“Patrick Taylor Cottage is an important link to our pioneering past and provides an insight into how European settlers lived in the earliest days of the Swan River Colony,” Mr Castrilli said.

It is the earliest-known surviving cottage made from wattle and mud, or daub, in WA.

“The ingenuity of our early settlers is still evident in the saw marks and handmade nails in the floorboards,” the Minister said.

“Extensive alterations and additions have taken place during the many years, but the original two-roomed wattle and daub cottage walls and the original shingle roof remain.”

The cottage was built for John Morley about 1832-33 before being sold to Patrick Taylor about 1834. It remained in his family for the next 120 years.

“The cottage survived thanks to the efforts of the Albany Historical Society which, in the early 1960s, began agitating for its preservation after the cottage was condemned as unfit for habitation,” Mr Castrilli said.

In 1964, Patrick Taylor Cottage opened as Albany’s first local museum.

“Local residents, including Patrick Taylor’s estate, heeded the society’s call to donate household items to be housed in the museum, which is now a very popular Albany tourist attraction,” the Minister said.

The cottage is one of a handful of residences built in the 1830s, during the first 10 years of European settlement, which are included on the State Register of Heritage Places. The State Register is managed by the Heritage Council of WA.

Lions Respite Centre

SOUTH West MLC Robyn McSweeney present Albany Lions Community Care Centre with a cheque for $220,000 to assist in the building of a long-awaited Respite Centre.

“This $220,000 (inc GST) has been made available by my Department, Department for Communities and has fulfilled a promise made to the public of Albany during our election campaign in November last year,” Ms McSweeney said.

“This will assist Lions Community Care Centre to build a facility which will provide much needed respite for hard working and stressed carers living in the Albany and surrounding areas.

“I understand that the new four-bedroom unit will provide around 1,460 bed nights each year and provide a much needed service to the carers of Albany.

“Albany Lions Community Care Centre is to be congratulated on their dedication to this project, having successfully raised the required funds to get this very worthwhile project underway.”

Great Southern communities to share in regional grants

Blackwood-Stirling MLA Terry Redman said the communities of Mount Barker, Denmark, Walpole and Cranbrook would benefit from the State Government’s release of more than $30million of projects from the first round of the Royalties for Regions’ Regional Grants Scheme.

“I am delighted that this Royalties for Regions initiative is investing in local communities and putting funding back into country WA,” Mr Redman said.

“Our regional communities are underpinned by the efforts of local organisations and it is gratifying that we can support those efforts in a practical way.”

Mr Redman said funding had been awarded to a range of local projects, including;

• $145,000 to the Denmark Shire Council towards development of the Denmark Community Park (Kwoorbarup Park)

• $16,100 to the Bibbulman Track Foundation for realignment work near Denmark

• $250,000 to the Shire of Cranbrook towards construction of a mixed use accommodation complex

• $140,00 towards development of the Mount Barker Community Centre

• $160,000 to Walpole and District Seniors Association towards construction of a twelve unit seniors village

• $20,000 to support development of the Frankland River Wine Trail

• $72,500 to increase capacity at the Walpole Community Resource Telecentre.

Mr Redman said it was also very pleasing that the Nannup to Albany section of the Munda Biddi Trail through the South West would receive $3million over three years providing a boost to all communities linked to the route and showcasing the areas attractions.

“Royalties for Regions was created to help regional communities shape their own futures and the Regional Grants Scheme funding is an important component in that process,” Mr Redman said.