With the final votes being counted from the State election, it appears that I have been unsuccessful in my bid to retain my Mining and Pastoral Region seat.
It has been an honour and a privilege to represent communities in the electorate and serve as their voice in State Parliament.
Among the many things for which I am grateful, enjoying the friendship and support from so many folk is at the top. I am humbled and proud to have served you to the best of my ability.
Thank you to my beautiful girls, Sue and Arddun, my wonderful family, steadfast friends and loyal constituents for your support over the last four years. You may never know how influential and important you have been.
I would like to thank every member of my brilliant staff and my colleagues who have worked alongside me and assisted me during my term in State Parliament.
Looking back at the last four years, I believe we have achieved a great deal together in the electorate. From the beginning, I took my direction from constituents and sought to fight for their interests in government. I am proud to have been part of a team that has delivered record investment to communities in the Goldfields-Esperance, Kimberley, Pilbara, Mid West and Gascoyne regions.
Our flagship Royalties for Regions program has helped rebuild regional communities neglected by previous metro-centric governments. Real progress has been made in narrowing the gap between the city and the regions in terms of infrastructure and service provision.
From Wyndham to Esperance, communities across the vast Mining and Pastoral Region have shared in the nearly $7 billion invested through Royalties for Regions. Thanks to this strong regional development focus, there is now a sense of optimism in the regions that didn’t exist a decade ago.
This was always going to be a tough election, especially with a multi-million dollar scare campaign waged against the Nationals WA by the big miners. Irrespective of the outcome, this election has raised serious questions about the influence of multinational corporations and vested interests in WA’s political process.
I am disappointed that I will not be able to complete all the projects and legislative reforms I have been working on. I also feel some trepidation about the future of regional WA. According to its Financial Management Plan released a day before the election, the incoming Labor government will slash $2.3 billion from Royalties for Regions over the next three years. This will hurt our regional communities.
One door has closed and I look forward to the opening of the next. I hope to serve regional WA in a different capacity. As I am fond of saying, change is a constant, development is optional.
We still have much to do and my Esperance office will be operational until May 22. I will continue to work on local issues in the electorate up until this date. Please do not hesitate to contact myself or the team as required.
Thank you.