WA Governor Kim Beazley has wrapped up a tour of Moora and Dandaragan, visiting several agribusinesses to learn about horticulture, livestock and tourism developments.
“I have had the best day in Moora — wonderfully looked after by Shire of
Moora president Tracy Lefroy and her team,” he said.
“It is such an impressive town.
“It respects the arts and culture, is totally innovative in agriculture
and has a great local history museum among the many other superb attributes.”
WA Governor Kim Beazley
looking at the medical tool, equipment and clothes owned by resident Doctor
George Lloyd Myles at Moora Historical Society. Credit: Adele
Hollywood
Mr Beazley said West Australians should visit the Wheatbelt town to
appreciate its economic importance.
Moora Citrus WA
orchard manager Shane Kay Governor Kim Beazley at Moora
Citrus. Credit: Adele Hollywood
“The road to Moora is a very good one,” he said. 33km east of Dandaragan WA.
Shire of Moora president Tracy Lefroy, who is also a local farmer, said
the Governor’s tour formed part of his regional visit program.
“I love that we are lucky enough to have a Governor who wants to
understand what makes the regions tick,” she said.
“In Moora, it is our willingness to engage with sport, recreation, the
arts and tourism which make our town thrive and makes us tick.
“This in turn attracts business to the region as we are such a great place to live and work.
Mrs Lefroy said the visit provided an incredible opportunity to take
stock, from industry to the arts, sports and recreation, tourism and education.
“We wanted to communicate to the Governor that Moora is a town where
things are really happening at every level,” she said.
“We have new industry coming to town with Harvest Road Group’s Koojan
Downs cattle finishing facility and the upgrade to CBH receival site means our
backbone of agriculture is continuing to flourish.”
Harvest Road general
manager Kim McDougall with WA Governor Kim Beazley at the Koojan Downs Cattle
Feeding Facility. Credit: Andrew Bennett
Mr Beazley visited Koojan Downs to see the beef agriculture investment
business which forms part of Harvest Road Group’s portfolio of food brands,
exporting to more than 40 countries.
Harvest Road Group will build a $70 million cattle finishing enterprise
at Koojan Downs. It will supply 60,000, 100-day grain finished cattle to Harvey
Beef’s processing facility.
The property, which totals more than 7000ha from four lots, straddles
the shires of Dandaragan, Moora and Victoria Plains.
Koojan Downs will be designed to supply 60,000, 100-day grain finished
cattle each year to be processed at Harvey Beef.
Harvest Road general manager of Agriculture Kim McDougall said the
Governor’s visit was an opportunity to demonstrate how the company’s long-term
investment in the $70m Koojan Downs feedlot facility was part of its commitment
to creating a sustainable and world-class beef supply chain in Western
Australia.
“It’s an honour to welcome the Governor to Koojan Downs and showcase how
Harvest Road’s feedlot facility will unlock value for beef producers and
support employment opportunities across regional communities by creating an
interlocking production chain from the north to south west of the State based
on best-practice ecological planning and animal welfare management,” he said.
“The Governor is a passionate advocate for our State and it’s a great
chance to demonstrate how our business is collaborating with the surrounding
community and with cattle and grain suppliers to create industry best practices
in animal welfare, environmental sustainability and operational efficiency.”
Mrs Lefroy said each sector of the Moora community and economy was
working together to ensure that Moora remained vibrant.
Mr Beazley said the town’s facilities and people had “energy far beyond”
what he had envisioned.
Mrs Lefroy and Mr Beazley discussed the barriers to innovation and
education in the region, including telecommunications.
“Every industry, every educator, every healthcare service provider
relies upon internet and telephone services,” Mrs Lefroy said.
“Current internet service provision is well and truly sub-optimal and we
would love to see significant investment from government and private sectors in
improving our telecommunications infrastructure here in the regions.”
“This investment would repay itself with improvements in productivity,
the opportunity to decentralise industry and viable provision of remote
education and health services.
She noted that Moora brands itself as being a region of opportunity.
“As a service centre, and with a massive geographic catchment zone,
Moora is home some exceptional facilities and services,” Mrs Lefroy said.
“A big part of this is being open to new business opportunities in our
region. Moora is thrilled that the Harvest Road Group is heavily committed to
its ‘good neighbour’ policy whereby the staff of the enterprises integrate into
the town and community in which they work.”
Wheatbelt Development Commission
Central Midlands senior regional officer Rebecca Kelly,
Mrs Lefroy said the Koojan Downs venture offered benefits to the
community ranging from employment, training, and a domestic feed grain market
as well as flow-on effects to the town’s retail, education, sport and arts
facilities.
“The sense of pride and ownership in this project is tangible within the
town and we cannot wait to be involved,” she said.
“In turn, we want to welcome Koojan Downs to our region and we're
working with the Wheatbelt Development Commission to ensure that our road
infrastructure is appropriate to handle the large volume of traffic, with 1200
head of cattle per week in and out of our region.”
Mr Beazley also visited the Moora Shire office, the historical society,
Candy’s Bush Reserve, and Moora Speedway where the Yued Mural showcases
Indigenous night sky stories and the heritage of the local people.
Moora is nestled amongst a diverse range of economic opportunities and
strategically located between two of the State’s most popular tourism
attractions — New Norcia and the Pinnacles.
Moora is the largest regional town between Perth and Geraldton and
provides a wealth of services.
