Airport expansion "priority": Minister

Minister for Regional Development Terry Redman and the Nationals candidate for Vasse tour the Busselton Regional Airport today to get a sense of how the expansion is progressing.

Senior staff from the City of Busselton, including community and commercial services director Naomi Searle and Deputy Mayor Grant Henley, briefed the Minister on the vision for the project.

The expansion is seen as a key driver of economic growth for the region and State Government funding is required to pay for upgrades which will allow the airport to handle interstate flights.

Mr Redman said the South West Development Commission’s business case for the project was on his desk and he believed it ticked all the right boxes.

While he could not commit to a timeline of funding delivery, Mr Redman said the expansion was “number one on the list for the South West economic and social development blueprint”.

He said Royalties for Regions would be the only source of State Government funding for the project and $1bn. a year was committed to this fund.

Mr Gordon told the Times if he wins the Vasse by-election on October 18 he would make the expansion his priority.

“I’m going to be in this man’s ear (Mr Redman’s) every day, sitting around the Royalties for Regions table in Parliament,” he said.

“The Nationals introduced that fund and they have guardianship of it and I want to be in that room when the decisions are made.”

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