Durack MP Melissa Price says Federal Government’s Growing Regions grants program ‘appalling’ for Mid West

Federal Durack MP Melissa Price has slammed the Albanese Government’s decision on recipients of its Growing Regions grant program, saying many Mid West organisations have been left out. The program provides funding between $500,000 and $15 million for community and economic infrastructure projects to local government entities and not-for-profit organisations. Across the Mid West, only the Midwest Community Living Association received funding, with $836,829 being invested to create an inclusive multipurpose opportunity hub in Geraldton, according to the Federal Government. Ms Price said she was disappointed. “Many of the applicants in my electorate, hardworking councils and organisations, had already progressed well past the assessment stage of the Coalition Government’s Building Better Regions Fund round 6, only to have their funding scrapped by Labor in 2022,” she said. “They have now been advised for the second time that they will not be receiving any funding. “Western Australia is our largest State, comprising . . . mostly regional, rural and remote areas, yet we received funding for a total of only five projects, equalling a measly 12 per cent of the total funding pool in this round. “This is another sterling example of how very little the Labor Government care about regional Australia.” According to Ms Price, regional councils and organisations in the area have been waiting nearly a year for the outcome. She accused the Federal Government of dodging funding for the regions to promote its Budget handed down last week. “It is no coincidence that their announcement occurred this week,” Ms Price said. “Labor ministers have been sitting on grant programs, refusing to part with money promised for the regions, choosing instead to hoard the cash to prop up their Budget ‘surplus’. “Because of Labor’s selfish actions, communities throughout my electorate of Durack have been left suffering in an economic desert for over two years.” In the Durack electorate, the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberly was the only other organisation to receive funding, with $13,389,626 going towards the Kununurra Airport extension.