WA Labor goes quiet on Kimberley Agricultural College two years after funding $1 million business case

The State Government has gone mum on plans to open an Agricultural College in the Kimberley, sparking fears the project has been abandoned two years after it was first announced. Both Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis and Education Minister Sabine Winton refused to answer questions when probed about a $1 million feasibility study into the project in State Parliament this month. The State Government in March 2023 announced the funding boost as part of a $40m investment to curb youth crime, saying it would use the money to “develop a business case to assess the feasibility of establishing a WA College of Agriculture in the Kimberley”. The Department of Education swiftly held workshops in Broome and Kununurra to “identify the opportunities, education pathways and requirements of a potential agricultural college in the Kimberley region” that same month. WA Nationals MLC Julie Freeman, who is based in Mullewa, asked the same questions across two days in State Parliament this month, including whether the business case had been completed and how much of the $1m allocation had been spent. Regional Development Minister Stephen Dawson, representing Ms Winton, told Ms Freeman the Education Minister had provided the following response: “the documentation is cabinet in confidence”. Ms Jarvis pointed to that same response when asked the same question from Ms Freeman the next day. Speaking to Countryman, Ms Freeman accused WA Labor of “secrecy and delays” and called on the State Government to release the business case and its recommendations. “The Kimberley has been crying out for training pathways that keep young people in the north and build a skilled regional workforce. Instead of delivering, Labor has delivered secrecy and delays,” she said. “After almost two years, this Government should front up and tell Kimberley communities what has happened to their $1 million — and what the recommendations of the business case actually are. “Right now, it looks like the Premier and the Labor Party have something to hide.” WA has four agricultural colleges — at Morawa, Cunderdin, Harvey and Denmark — with more than 600 students enrolled in the specialist agricultural courses at those schools between Years 10 to 12. There are also nine schools offering farm programs in regional and metropolitan WA. This includes at Coodanup College, Esperance Senior High School, Kelmscott Senior High School, Kiara College, Kojonup District High School, Manjimup Senior High School, Margaret River Senior High School, Mount Barker Community College and Pinjarra Senior High School. Shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter accused Labor of “hiding behind cabinet in confidence” to avoid answering questions about the contents of the business case. “Western Australians deserve to know whether the money has been spent, whether the business case even exists, and why the State Government is refusing to release it,” he said. “When a Government repeatedly leans on ‘cabinet in confidence’, it usually means one of two things: either the business case hasn’t been completed, or it has been completed, and the findings don’t suit Labor politically. “Either scenario is a disgrace for regional education and a slap in the face to Kimberley families who were promised progress.” Countryman contacted Ms Jarvis and Ms Winton for comment.