I know how important our local environment is to the Rockingham community, which is why I'm proud that our Government is supporting local conservation efforts.

• Protecting and preserving our beloved Cape Peron by granting it Class A Reserve status - the top conservation status to ensure the area will be better protected for years to come.
• Installed 180m of new limestone seawall to protect vulnerable dunes from erosion.
• Funded additional research and protection for Little Penguins through the Little Penguin Advisory Group.
• Delivered solar panels at Rockingham Senior High School, Malibu and Hillman Primary schools.
• Secured funding to install solar panels at Cooloongup, East Waikiki, and Rockingham Beach Primary schools.
• Provided funding to the City of Rockingham to plant more trees in our community.
• Investing in the most advanced tyre recycling facility at Tyrecycle East Rockingham, reducing landfill and increasing local jobs.
• Delivered funding for bushfire mitigation in high risk areas around Rockingham.

The Cook Labor Government is committed to diversifying and decarbonising our economy whilst protecting our environment and water security. Here are some initiatives we have introduced to support this:

• $536 million in the recent 2024-25 State Budget for environmental and water initiatives including:
  • $73 million of additional investment in Plan for Our Parks.
  • $67 million of additional investment in the Forest Management Plan 2024-33, creating new jobs, supporting forest monitoring, and working with Traditional Owners to protect native wildlife and forest health.
  • $30 million to strengthen regional bushfire management.
• Legislating Western Australia's commitment to net zero.
• Ending native forest logging.
• Continuing the biggest expansion of WA's conservation estate in history.
• Launching the world's longest EV connected highway through the WA EV Network, featuring 110 EV fast charging points across 7,000km.

The 2024-25 budget also delivers $1.8 billion to diversify and decarbonise our economy, including investments in economic infrastructure like strategic industrial areas, ports and roads, and electricity and water infrastructure to unlock industry growth and position WA as a clean energy powerhouse. This includes:

• $500 million to unlock WA’s strategic industrial areas and pave the way for WA to become a global leader in clean energy.
• $324 million to undertake extensive planning and procure long-lead transmission infrastructure for the State’s main electricity grid to unlock industry growth and connect more renewable energy.

We’ve also recently reached a major milestone with the first battery units installed at Collie big battery as part of our $1.6 billion investment to secure clean, affordable and reliable energy for WA’s future. The Collie battery energy system will provide 500 megawatts of power with 2000 megawatt hours of storage when connected to the grid in 2025 and will join Synergy's existing battery systems in Kwinana, soaking up excess solar and wind energy during the day to provide system stability and support continued uptake of renewables in the South West Interconnected System.