THE NEW Bunbury site of a long-awaited government department has been announced by Premier Colin Barnett today.
The new Department of Parks and Wildlife headquarters will be located on Koombana Drive.
Mr Barnett said locating the office on the main road into Bunbury’s CBD would inject business activity and create tourism and research partnership opportunities.
“Around 100 jobs will be transferred from Perth to Bunbury,” he said.
Planning work will now start on the site, opposite the Dolphin Discovery Centre.
The dream of securing a government department in Bunbury has been on the table since 2011.
In 2012, the Bunbury Chamber of Commerce and Industries started a campaign called Now’s the Time to Secure Bunbury’s Future, pushing the state government to commit to moving a government department to Bunbury’s CBD.
Mr Barnett said the state government had now promised up to $18 million for the development of the new headquarters and once planning work has been completed, funding would be part of the normal budget process.
The new office will be built in several stages with about 100 staff accommodated in the first stage. In the long term, it will house about 300 staff.
The Premier said the new site had advantages over the original proposal for Turkey Point.
“This new site is highly visible to the public who can visit the headquarters to get information on exploring the South-West’s spectacular national and marine parks,” he said.
“This development will establish Bunbury as the major centre of State Government administration outside of Perth and the gateway to the natural attractions of our South West.
“The Liberal National Government is committed to decentralising and providing career opportunities for people living in the regions.”
Environment minister Albert Jacob said the site also created the opportunity for Parks and Wildlife to connect with the community through local research and science partnerships.
“The South West of Western Australia is one of only 35 globally recognised biodiversity hotspots, in fact it’s the only globally recognised biodiversity hot spot within Australia and being here in Bunbury places us in the centre of that,” he said.
“The site investigations will also examine upgrades to public access to interpretative facilities at the mangrove boardwalk and surrounding Leschenault Inlet foreshore so people can better enjoy this area and learn more about the importance of the local mangroves.
“Investigation works will respect cultural heritage values and nearby historic ship wrecks.”
Input from Bunbury MLA John Castrilli and the City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan helped decide that the Koombana Drive site was more suitable than Turkey Point.
“This is a very big deal for our city,” said Mayor Brennan.
Mayor Brennan said there were many improvements to be completed in the surrounding area, including the mangrove pathway and the shipwrecks.
“Three million of the 18 million (will be) set aside to do improvements to the surrounds,” he said.
The infrastructure of the building will be designed to blend in with the environment and not detract from the picturesque area.
“Subtle impact from a visual point of view to blend in magnificently with this environment,” Mr Brennan said.
Bunbury MLA John Castrilli said he was looking forward to fulfilling the election promise and the move fit in well with government’s vision for the city.
“This development is set to revitalise this whole area and create employment, to bring tourism and more importantly it will be a connection with the environment and create educational opportunities,” Mr Castrilli said.
The leaders agreed that the heritage value of the site will be a critical feature in the development.
“The mast of the Samuel Wright, which was one of the original shipwrecks in the area, was actually used as the original datum point when Bunbury was surveyed, so in a surveyor sense this is actually the centre of Bunbury,” Mr Jacob said.
The major project is expected to kick-start plans to make Bunbury the second centre of government administration in Western Australia.