The State Government is doubling down on its commitment to building a $320 million permanent location for WA’s home of agriculture, despite unveiling plans for a “medium term” fix in the form of a research centre at Jandakot and trial sites at Wanneroo.
WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis unveiled the $55.7 million plan last week, revealing the Cook Government had secured a 10-year lease across 2.75ha in Jandakot for a new research and development centre to house 100 scientists and researchers.
It also plans to open a 5.5ha field research site for grain, pastures and irrigated agriculture trials at Wanneroo, about 40kms away from the Jandakot facility — a far cry from the prior situation where most metro researchers and trials were housed in South Perth.
Ms Jarvis told ABC Country Hour the investment was a “medium term solution” until a location was identified a planned $320m metro facility to house DPIRD more permanently.
She labelled it the “biggest investment into a dedicated research facility in the metro area for decades”.
Ms Jarvis said all of DPIRD’s research staff — who have been spread across metropolitan Perth after moving out DPIRD’s dilapidated South Perth headquarters during the past two years — would start moving into the Jandakot site within weeks.
“The important research undertaken by DPIRD scientists has long provided benefits to WA producers and our economy, and the Primary Industries Research Centre and the new field trial site will bolster DPIRD’s research capacity,” she said.
“Together with the new State Biosecurity Response Centre, these new facilities will help capture the benefits of next generation science and innovation and ensure WA’s primary industries remain internationally competitive.”
The $55 million plan to base researchers at Jandakot is light years away from the $320m announced in 2022, when then-WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan announced a new headquarters for the Department at Murdoch University’s Perth campus.
The project was scrapped just five months later, despite an open tender for the construction, with the State Government citing the constraints of the site and consultation that revealed a five-story structure would be “difficult to build”.
Originally, work on the Murdoch headquarters was meant to start in 2024 and finish in 2027.
A State Government spokeswoman said it was still investigating sites for the $320m facility, and remained committed to finding a long-term fit-for-purpose metropolitan facility for DPIRD.
She said the Jandakot premise was an “established site and facility”, but declined to reveal the address.
“The Cook Government’s $55.7 million investment will be used to make the site fit for purpose, including the construction of labs, glasshouses, growth control rooms,” the spokeswoman said.
“All metropolitan staff have the option to attend one of the various DPIRD offices, as part of their weekly workplace routine.”
The two new sites are in addition to the new, $97m State Biosecurity Response Centre in Canning Vale, which was opened in November last year to combat and manage the increasing threat of pests and diseases.
DPIRD has several laboratories throughout the Perth metropolitan area, and also leases a field plot for research at Shenton Park.
Shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter welcomed the agricultural research investment, but said $55m would not “go far” in rebuilding a department gutted by Labor.
“This looks more like a political patch job than a proper plan,” he said.
“DPIRD staff are now working out of the Claremont Showgrounds after Labor abandoned South Perth with no clear replacement.
“Their much-hyped ‘new home’ at Murdoch has gone nowhere, and years later, WA’s second-biggest industry still doesn’t have a permanent, fit-for-purpose base.
“That’s a disgrace.”
