Published on Saturday, 17 April 2021 at 2:56:00 PM
As your Mayor, I will hold regular meetings with the new Member for Kalgoorlie, Ali Kent.
We held the first of those monthly meetings yesterday and I was pleased at the level of agreement and cooperation that came out of our discussion with a common theme being our desire to do and achieve what is best for Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
I was also pleasantly surprised at Ms Kent’s commitment and knowledge about plans to develop Lot 350 as an industrial park.
As Mayor I remain convinced that the State Government should have transferred the lease of the 214ha site to the City and that we are best placed to attract and expedite new industries to that location.
However, I fully accept the reality that the State has retained control of the land so the job of Council is to cooperate and work with Government, not dig in and to try and change the original decision to not transfer the lease to the City.
Hopefully the way will be cleared in coming days for the release of a 10ha parcel of the land for a large power station which is urgently needed for the expansion of exciting mining projects close to Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
Another that is hopefully close to finalisation for Lot 350 is a lime plant proposed by Cockburn Cement.
All of these new industries on our doorstep will mean more jobs and more families wanting to relocate to our town.
Right now, like the rest of regional WA, housing is in short supply and a common refrain from regional towns is that Development WA continues to be slow at releasing residential land and that councils have to take the matter into their own hands.
At a Regional Capitals Alliance meeting on Thursday, all 10 members – from Broome in the north down to Esperance – expressed frustration with getting residential land banks in their towns.
Like the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, many of our country colleagues are looking at ways to overcome the housing and land shortages themselves.
The monthly meetings with the Member for Kalgoorlie will also deal with the roll out of the Government’s list of promises for this electorate.
Whilst the election promises list for Kalgoorlie in the McGowan Government’s first term was not extensive, at least all were kept.
With the government in a stronger financial position four years on, it will be my aim to first ensure this year’s list of election promises are delivered but then to get more for our community because we can never have too much.
So far so good, and I look forward to working with Ali Kent for our mutual benefit.
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