Shire of Coolgardie Priorities Population Growth
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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 at 6:44:15 PM
The Shire of Coolgardie is the largest producer of minerals in the region with gold and nickel mining operations supporting globally significant regional exports.
With the rapid increase in mineral production, skills shortages throughout the region, and decline of the Shire’s population (10.8% in 5 years), the Shire is committed to implementing attraction and retention strategies to its towns.
On 27 November, the Shire formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Goldfields Community Legal Centre Inc. - a not-for-profit organisation that was successful in obtaining State Government Regional Economic Development (RED) Grants to deliver the Goldfields Migration Employment Project.
The Project aims to alleviate the labour and skills shortage in the Goldfields region by engaging with migrant communities based in metropolitan areas of WA and assisting employment seekers with access to Goldfields based job opportunities and ancillary settlement support services. By signing the MOU, both the Shire and GCLC hope to work collaboratively to develop a Migration Strategy to attract people to the Shire. This includes promoting to metropolitan migrant communities, job opportunities and regional living benefits.
“The Shire is a partner in the Goldfields Designated Area Migration Agreement with a number of neighbouring local governments. A target was set to encourage businesses to sponsor 500 migrants each year to to the region. Four months into the agreement, this is proving to be an extremely ambitious goal” said Malcolm Cullen, Shire President.
“GCLC have an in-depth understanding on liveability factors that attract migrants to the region, and we intend to work closely with the GCLC to facilitate relationships job opportunities. With median housing prices in Kambalda reported at $100,000 and rentals ranging from $150 to $200 per week for three-bedroom homes, housing affordability, combined with plentiful job opportunities provide a real opportunity to attract locally based workforces.”
“We are excited to become the first local government in the Goldfields region to develop this partnership with the GCLC and encourage other local governments in the region to establish similar partnerships.”
The Shire of Coolgardie will develop marketing and promotional materials to highlight all that the area has to offer to new residents before Christmas.
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