An inner city landholding capable of accommodating more than 1000 homes and commercial property is a step closer as the last of the State Government tenants gets ready to vacate the site.
The 22ha site at 3 Baron-Hay Court in Kensington — which is riddled with asbestos — is expected to become empty within weeks, ending the four-year transition for staff from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to alternative sites.
The State Government is probing how to transform the asbestos-riddled site into an “exciting revitalisation project”.
The Kensington site has now been listed on the residential projects site of the Development WA website, with a blurb saying it could one day be the site for homes as well as commercial developments including offices, shops and parks.
According to the website, the State Government is in the “very early stages” of investigating the site and surrounding area, saying it would be “transitioned over time” from State hands.
“This redevelopment project will be delivered in stages to facilitate the future decommissioning of existing State Government operations from the site,” the website said.
DPIRD staff and farmers who rely on their work were left hopeful when former WA agriculture minister Alannah MacTiernan announced plans in December 2022 for the State Government department to be permanently housed at a new site at Murdoch University.
It was set to be her final legacy before retiring from Parliament in January 2023, ending nearly three decades of debate about where DPIRD or its former iterations — including the Department of Agriculture and Food — should be based.
But hopes were dashed in August 2024 when the State Government pulled those plans, saying it would be too “difficult to build” at Murdoch and it would instead go back to the drawing board.
A State Government spokeswoman said nearly all DPRID staff had moved out of the Kensington office and would have the option to “attend one of the various DPIRD offices” as “part of their weekly workplace routine”.
“Once the South Perth site is fully vacated, the site will be decommissioned and handed over for remediation and redevelopment,” she said.
The closure of 3 Baron-Hay Court has impacted a number of other organisations once housed at the site, including the Australian Export Grain Innovation Centre, Grower Group Alliance and Safe Farms WA.
The State Government has already budgeted $320 million for a new metropolitan facility for staff, but for now they are spread across Perth.
WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis this month announced plans for 100 researchers to soon move into a leased site at Jandakot after it secured a 10-year lease for a new research and development centre in an “established facility”.
Staff have also been sent to offices at 1 Nash Street and 140 William Street in Perth, as well as at Murdoch University, and other offices in Hillarys, Fremantle and Rockingham — while many have been working from home.
DPIRD staff are also based at the State Biosecurity Response Centre in Canning Vale, with others working at field plots in Shenton Park and diagnostic and laboratory services staff basing themselves across “several laboratories” in the Perth area.
The $55m plan also includes the leasing of a separate 5.5ha site at Wanneroo — a 45-minute drive from the Jandakot facility — for plot trials set to begin next year, including grain, pastures and irrigated agriculture.
“The Cook Government remains fully committed to providing a long-term fit-for-purpose metropolitan facility for DPIRD, with $320m set aside in the Budget,” Ms Jarvis said.
“In the interim, the new Primary Industries Research Centre (in Jandakot) and the State Biosecurity Response Centre (in Canning Vale) represent the largest investment of any government into DPIRD’s metropolitan facilities in decades.”
DPIRD was created in July 2018, as a Labor-led merger of three former departments — Agriculture and Food; Fisheries; and Regional Development.
DPIRD TIMELINE
July 2018: DPIRD is formed out of the former Agriculture and Food; Fisheries; and Regional Development departments.
April 2019: WA Government announces plans to spend $131.5m to boost DPIRD’s core funding, which includes $3.3m upgrading its laboratories.
2021: Relocation of more than 100 administration staff to East Perth.
May 2022: $3.3m upgrade to DPIRD’s laboratories unveiled.
December 2022: WA Government announces $320m to build the new DPIRD Biosecurity and Research Facility at Murdoch University.
2023: WA Government scraps plans for Murdoch facility, saying the site is too small.
June 2024: DPIRD Laboratories closed at Kensington, AEGIC’s milling, baking and testing facility also impacted.
November 2024: $97m State Biosecurity Response Centre opens in Canning Vale.
October 2025: WA Government announces plan to set up a $55m, 2.75ha site for research and development functions at Jandakot, as well as a 5.5ha trial plot site at Wanneroo.
https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/dpird-land-c-20343097
