Mayor Carol Adams said that the announcement confirms the City’s long held position that a land-backed port within the Kwinana Industrial Area, connected by an uninterrupted freight corridor via Anketell Road and the Tonkin Highway, will best serve Perth’s long term freight needs.
“We are absolutely thrilled with today’s announcement,” Mayor Adams said.
“I congratulate the Premier and the State Government on delivering another election commitment – this is a great day for Kwinana and for the State of WA,” she said.
Mayor Adams said that in an area of stubbornly high unemployment, a commitment of this scale will create thousands of new jobs. The Mayor was also confident that a case exists to commence new port operations before the current timeframe of 2032, once a more detailed business case is developed.
“The decision to now plan and build a new port in Kwinana provides investor and business certainty, and will see new residents looking to relocate to the region to live in close proximity to such a large future employment hub,” Mayor Adams said.
“The government commitment of $97.2m into the preparatory work and a detailed business case will be a significant economic commitment to the future of our region,” she said.
Mayor Adams congratulated the Westport Taskforce for their thorough and methodical work undertaken over the past few years in arriving at today’s outcome.
“It was a very inclusive process, where all stakeholders and community members had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion,” Mayor Adams said
“The City of Kwinana thanks the WA government for the announcement and stand ready to continue to work with both State and Federal Governments, in preparing for the port development,” she said.