Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia
TRANSPORT Minister Alannah MacTiernan’s decision to deny Main Roads funding to access roads to new gain storage facilities will impede the State’s ability to handle a pending record grain harvest.
The Minister has blocked road funding for access roads to new grain storages at Narrakine near Williams and at Northam on the grounds that CBH is a private developer.
The reality is that CBH is a non-profit provider of essential services to the rural community and that the State is a major beneficiary of those services.
The Minister’s refusal to assist CBH is further confirmation that the State Government is prepared to deny more and more services to rural WA.
We now have one brand new $8 million storage facility at Narrakine inoperable and another development worth around $25 million that should have proceeded at Northam postponed because the Minister is not prepared to fund access roads traditionally provided by Main Roads.
This is a precedent that is of great concern to CBH and its grower shareholders and a stalemate that will greatly add to the problem of bringing in WA’s record 15 million tonne grain harvest.
– Barry Court