The town of Moora will host a new much-needed facility connecting Wheatbelt children with health and education services as soon as January 2025 if progress on the build continues as planned.
With plans in the pipeline for over five years, Shire of Moora President, Tracy Lefroy and CEO Gavin Robbins say they are pleased to now be close to completion on the project which received $800,000 in federal funding through Phase 4 of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program.
On Tuesday 3 September they welcomed Federal Minister for Regional Development and Local Government, Kristy McBain MP to inspect the progress of the new centre, which will also include a child care facility.
Tracy Lefroy said, “It was fantastic to welcome Minister McBain to the Shire of Moora to highlight the significant progress we’re making with jointly funded projects, and to discuss our future priorities.
“With the community calling on the Shire of Moora to provide more services than ever before, we’re strengthening our partnership with the Australian Government to ensure that we can continue to deliver the projects locals want to get off the ground.”
The funding received is kickstarting key works, including framing, electrical wiring, plumbing and hydraulic services, and air conditioning – along with upgrades to the access driveway and carpark facilities.
The 55 place centre will offer early childhood education care and before and after school programs, as well as a range of early intervention services; including learning and developmental delay assessments, vision services, hearing and speech services delivered by the Kids Research Institute Australia.
However the rapid growth of Moora as a result of several new large industries coming to town means the childcare places are expected to be snapped up quickly. Tracy Lefroy explained the vision includes growth capacity.
“We honestly thought we had future proofed really well, the fact that we have designed a modular building really gives us that capacity to expand when we need to and I expect that we will be expanding the facility, in a modular fashion, in the next five years.
The Shire of Moora have also welcomed funding to improve the safety of local roads across the Northern Wheatbelt, with over $4.1 million in Roads to Recovery funding flowing to Council over the next five years, a boost of over $1.7 million.
Kristy McBain said, “From improving access to early education services, to making rural roads safer for the heavy vehicles that underpin the Northern Wheatbelt’s major agricultural sector – funding increases from the Albanese Government are getting local priority projects off the ground in this region.
“By working with the Shire of Moora to improve the safety and accessibility of their local road networks for heavy vehicles, we’re ensuring that this region can unlock the economic opportunities that will come with our Future Made in Australia plan.
“This will pave the way for future priority projects, many of which will improve heavy vehicle access on the Shire’s rural roads,” said Ms McBain.
Two kilometres of Old Geraldton Road was sealed earlier this year thanks to $475,216 in federal funding, with $174,124 supporting widening and sealing works on Koojan West Road.
The Roads to Recovery program is progressively increasing from $500 million to $1 billion per year, the Road Black Spot Program is increasing to $150 million per year, and the new $200 million per year Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program opened on 1 July 2024.
A statistic provided by Grain Growers reveals the average cost of maintaining a km of Local Government road in metro councils is typically shared by 175 people, while in remote and rural areas, the cost is shared between less than five people.
“In our Shire of Moora the cost of maintaining our 984 kms of local roads per km is shared across just 2.7 people,” explained Tracy.
“With so much of our region reliant on the safe passage of heavy vehicles, the Roads to Recovery funding increase will make a significant impact in how we continue to improve our local road network, and we thank the Australian Government for this.”
