Mellisa Teede in Mandurah with shadow Regional Services Minister Stephen Jones.
Camera IconMellisa Teede in Mandurah with shadow Regional Services Minister Stephen Jones. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Federal Government dispute continues to exclude Mandurah from vital funding: Labor candidate

Jill BurgessMandurah Coastal Times

A LONG-running political dispute continues to exclude Mandurah from vital funding because of rules around funding eligibility, according to Canning Labor candidate Mellisa Teede.

Mrs Teede and Shadow Regional Services Minister Stephen Jones met with concerned stake holders in Mandurah last week to discuss the exclusion.

Mrs Teede said it had been confirmed Mandurah would once again be excluded from eligibility for the next round of Building Better Regions funding.

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“This is despite Canning MHR Andrew Hastie’s promises to fix the problem for the past two years,’’ she said.

“In 2016, the Coalition Government drew up new rules that discriminate against regions like Mandurah.

“It seems obvious Mr Hastie is unable to fix the problem because of internal fighting within the Government.

“Every day of inaction adds more money onto the millions of dollars of infrastructure funding and funding for community activities, events or planning the City of Mandurah the Shire of Murray have already missed out on.

“Labor wants to end funding discrimination against Mandurah and recognises the importance of the region as its own distinct community.”

Mr Hastie said eligibility criteria for the Building Better Regions funding was fixed long ago.

“Before, regional areas like Coolup were not considered eligible under the grant criteria,’’ he said.

“I since fought to have the criteria changed and as a result we have funded more than $65 million of projects in Canning. Mandurah is not missing out on funding under the Building Better Regional Fund.”

He said applications from ineligible areas like Mandurah could still be submitted and would be assessed on the basis of that the proposed project could provide their significant benefits and employment outcomes.