DEPARTMENT of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) staff have welcomed the news that Murdoch University will be the site of their long-awaited agricultural headquarters, with the facility's completion date set for 2027.
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The State government last week announced it would pump $320 million into the new biosecurity and research precinct at the university, which will include laboratory and technical workspaces for about 350 DPIRD employees.
The fresh canvas will provide a much-needed boost for the department, with many staff continuing to work from DPIRD's tired South Perth site that has faced ongoing safety and maintenance issues and has outdated and interim laboratory facilities in use.
In September 2020, the government announced it would replace the South Perth site and invest more than $20m over 12 months to ensure functional laboratories and offices were in place at the existing site, while planning for the new site was underway.
Subsequently DPIRD secured a 10-year lease on a Nash Street site in the Perth CBD, which about 500 of DPIRD's office-based staff moved to mid-last year.
About 200 laboratory and research staff remained at the South Perth site to deliver biosecurity, quarantine and research services.
Some staff from DPIRD's Nash Street site, who work in biosecurity and primary industries, are expected to relocate to the new Murdoch facility.
To be set on 11.3 hectares on the corner of the existing agricultural precinct at Murdoch's Perth campus, the new facilities will include specialist laboratories to support biosecurity, market access and agricultural research and development, an incident and emergency management operational centre, as well as glasshouses, shade houses and field plots for onsite research.
The precinct is also planned to accommodate Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) and InterGrain staff, with AEGIC's Perth headquarters currently co-located at DPIRD's South Perth site.
Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan said as the world became more integrated globally, biosecurity risks were increasing exponentially and DPIRD needed the best tools to protect the State's primary industries, which are currently valued at $11.7 billion.
"Research and development has been critical to supporting our farmers to increase profitability with ongoing climate challenges," Ms MacTiernan said.
"This is a long-awaited move which will deliver long-lasting benefits for the State's agrifood industries across biosecurity, research and development."
Premier Mark McGowan said the new precinct was a "once-in-a-generation investment" that would service WA and its primary industries for many decades to come.
"This will be a modern facility delivering world-class science, which will strengthen our biosecurity capability and access to valuable export markets into the future," Mr McGowan said.
Mr McGowan said the Murdoch location provided the opportunity to build on to the existing research relationships the department has with the State's universities to deliver research and development in agriculture and food production.
The announcement follows the formation of the Western Australian Agricultural Research Collaboration (WAARC) in July, which features all WA universities, the CSIRO and DPIRD.
The WAARC collaboration aims to build research programs focused on emerging industry issues.
Murdoch vice-chancellor and president Andrew Deeks said the co-location of DPIRD at Murdoch would result in enhanced collaboration between all WA universities involved in agricultural research, the sharing of data and new opportunities for students to engage in industry research supervision and internships.
"This decision is not just about new buildings and relocating government scientific staff," professor Deeks said.
"It's an opportunity to work together as a research community, where we are more likely to succeed in solving some of the huge challenges we face in providing sustainably produced food for a growing global population.
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"This is good news for our farmers, good for our environment and good for our State."
Professor Deeks said scientists at Murdoch's Food Futures Institute (FFI) welcomed the opportunity to strengthen their ties with DPIRD following many decades of research collaborations, including the Western Crop Genetics Alliance, where jointly-appointed Murdoch and DPIRD staff develop crops for the WA farming sector.
With the world's population estimated to grow by another 1.5 billion to 9.5b by 2050, the FFI is focused on translational research to support the sustainable production of food.
AEGIC's interim chief executive Ken Quail said being co-located with InterGrain and DPIRD would strengthen the organisation's collaborative approach to research, market insight and innovation.
"In addition, this facility will provide an excellent base for in-person engagement with our international grains customers and will demonstrate a new level of the importance Australia places on grains R&D," Mr Quail said.
Grains Research and Development and Corporation (GRDC) chairman John Woods said the planned precinct would be an exceptional outcome for agriculture in WA.
Earlier this year both the State government and GRDC made a $24m total core investment in AEGIC to see the organisation through to 2025-26.
