The main streets of Pinjarra will soon be safer thanks to a $22 million investment by the Morrison Government to build the Pinjarra Heavy Haulage Deviation.

Member for Canning Andrew Hastie campaigned for the Deviation for many months in Canberra, including meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.  Mr Hastie hailed the funding as a major win for Pinjarra and the Peel region.

“Over 690 trucks drive down the main street of Pinjarra every day,” Mr Hastie said. “As our region continues to grow that number will rise. If we had done nothing Pinjarra’s roads would be at capacity, causing serious congestion and increasing the likelihood of a bad accident.

“The deviation will get heavy vehicles out of the CBD, making Pinjarra safer for locals. It will also increase the productivity of local industry. Trucks will no longer have to slow down and wait for lights as they pass through town.”

The funding comes as part of the Morrison Government’s additional $1.6 billion investment announced this week for critical infrastructure across Perth and regional Western Australia.

It builds upon the existing $9.81 billion worth of commitments to West Australian road and rail infrastructure.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this year’s Budget would lock in further federal support for crucial infrastructure projects across regional WA.

“The upcoming Budget will continue the Liberal and Nationals Government’s firm commitment to ensuring Western Australia gets its fair share of infrastructure funding now and into the future,” the Prime Minister said.

“We are prioritising investment in the major projects needed to better support regional areas, ease congestion in and around Perth and reduce the terrible impact of road trauma by delivering safer roads.”

On 12 February Andrew addressed parliament about the erosion issues facing the Murray Delta Islands community:

I rise today to share the concerns of the delta islands residents in my electorate of Canning. Located in the Shire of Murray, the Murry River delta islands area is a network of low-lying islands and estuaries where the Murray and Serpentine rivers meet the Peel Harbour estuary. In the 1970s and eighties, the estuaries were attacked by algal bloom as a result of nutrient run-off and stagnation.

To overcome this problem,a decision was made in the nineties to build a channel between the estuary and ocean at Dawesville. The channel would ensure that nutrient-rich estuary water could flush out to sea, and that the incoming salt water could restrict algae growth. While the Dawesville cut has solved the algae problem, the increased salinity in the estuary has resulted in serious erosion of the riverbanks, particularly in the delta islands area of South Yunderup.

After being contacted by a frustrated group of island residents who have been battling this for years, I recently visited the islands to examine the erosion myself. The erosion is significant—much like its effect on local housing prices. 

Led by Don MacLure, the delta island residents have offered their time and labour to the Shire of Murray to install infrastructure that would solve and slow the effects of erosion. Instead, the shire is focused on combating rising sea levels, which are unlikely to affect the islands until 2070—if, indeed, you accept the modelling.

Given the very real threat of erosion, I understand the residents' frustration with the Shire of Murray's priorities. I hope that, under new president David Bolt, the Shire of Murray will use its resources to address the erosion in South Yunderup.

The Murray  Delta Islands residents deserve practical solutions. I look forward to working together to deliver them.

Jobs are on the rise in the City of Mandurah, with a report released today by the Department of Employment showing a sharp decrease in unemployment from 11.6% to 6.8%.

The good news is shared by the Shire of Murray which has experienced a similar drop from 10.7% to 6.5%.

The data, released in the Department of Employment’s, Small Area Labor Markets – September Quarter 2017, reveals that Mandurah recorded the largest decrease in the country, with the unemployment rate falling by 9.6% in Mandurah, 7.5% in Greenfields, and 6.1% in Mandurah South.

The Member for Canning Andrew Hastie welcomed the news, praising the resilience of the Peel region.

“A lot of people have been doing it tough -and we’re certainly not out of the woods yet- but this is very good news for the Peel region.”

“The government has been working hard to ensure there is sufficient support for people looking for work, while at the same time doing everything we can to stimulate growth.”

Minister for Employment Senator Michaela Cash welcomed the news, noting that it reflected strong national jobs growth.

“The economy has now created 14 consecutive months of jobs growth. This is actually the longest consecutive run of jobs growth since 1994.”

“Of the 383,300 jobs that have been created in the past 12 months, and more than 80% of these are fulltime jobs.”

Mr Hastie cited a number of policies and projects introduced by the federal government to support unemployment and job growth in the Peel region.

“We’ve introduced the Mandurah Employment Facilitator and the Stronger Transitions package to support people struggling to find work.

“We’ve backed local job creating projects like the Dwellingup National Trails Centre and Quambie Park aged care expansion in Waroona.

“And we’ve stimulated local small business with the lowest tax rate in 50 years, by removing red tape and by extending the instant asset write off.”