'Very encouraging': McGowan praises Pinjarra businesses during visit

Mr McGowan made a pit stop at a bustling Pinjarra Junction Shopping Centre on Friday morning, greeting glowing shoppers and paying a visit to local business.

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The Premier remarked at how "vibrant" the shopping centre was despite phase two restrictions limiting the number of patrons at many businesses, and had high praise for how the town was coping through the pandemic.

"It's quite vibrant here - these are very encouraging signs," he said.

"We've made changes to allow for restaurants and cafes to open more fully than any other state, and we're going to do more about that in the coming weeks.

"It's great to see businesses in towns like Pinjarra showing resilience and innovation."

Mr McGowan also urged people to safely explore what Western Australia has to offer this weekend, with an influx of traffic set to hit the road for the first weekend of eased regional travel restrictions.

"We are encouraging people to get out of the city and come to the regions on holidays," he said.

"Our hard border with the east means that we can really only holiday in Western Australia, so hopefully this will mean huge numbers from the city get out to regional communities and experience the great opportunities on offer in our state.

"Coming to great regional towns like [Pinjarra] is a great opportunity for local businesses.

"I urge everyone to be careful, but it will be terrific."

Murray-Wellington MP Robyn Clarke joined Mr McGowan at the shopping centre, and also heaped praise on the region's business sector.

"One thing I've noticed across my entire electorate is all the small businesses adapted and quickly changed into things like takeaway," she said.

"There was also a bit of a coordination between pubs and restaurants to help each other out, which was great to see."