Issue: 2
August 2014
Gascoyne Food Bowl Initiative
11Number: 1
Growing the Carnarvon Horticultural Precinct
Contents

Borefield
progress

Land expansion
the process
explained

Market analysis

Next steps
Welcome to the second edition of the Gascoyne Food Bowl (GFB) Initiative newsletter. The last couple of months in the
Gascoyne have been busy for the project team.
Highlights include:

Community and key stakeholder engagement including :
o
The project team met with the reconstituted Local Consultative Committee (LCC) on 8 May. The LCC
included representatives from the Carnarvon Grower’s Asssociation, Gascoyne Water Asset Management
Cooperative, the Gascoyne Development Commission and industry representatives. The committee was
originally formed in 2008 to report and make recommendations on the development of the initiative to the
Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC comprises the Ministers of Agriculture, Water and Regional
Development. The LCC submitted a report and recommendations to the MAC in 2010.
o
The project team met on 8 May 2014 to update the LCC on the progress of these recommendations.

Tony Della Bosca (project manager) presented to the Carnarvon Ministerial Advisory Committee on the GFB
initiative, its key achievements and milestones achieved to date. The Carnarvon Ministerial Advisory Committee is
comprised of key government and industry stakeholders and was established in 2013 as part of a co-ordinated
approach to address water shortages in the Carnarvon area.

Carnarvon Shire was provided with an update on the project by Trina Anderson, Project senior planning officer, and
discussions took place on future working arrangements.

The contract for the electrification of the existing northern borefield has been awarded to Horizon Power.

The drilling and water tender contracts have awarded with targets identified and access paths cleared.
Borefield progress
Drilling
Sourcing and delivering additional water suitable for the new and expanded horticultural precinct
is a major part of the Gascoyne Food Bowl (GFB) initiative. As discussed in the last newsletter,
aerial electromagnetic survey (AEM) data has been collated and analysed to identify the potential
location, quantity and quality of aquifer water to the east of the existing Carnarvon horticultural
precinct. Drilling targets have now been identified and access paths have been cleared, ready for
the drilling to start.
Awarding a drilling contract is a complicated procedure. It is an open tender process and has to
be approved by the State Tender Review Committee. The drilling and the water testing contracts
have been awarded to Austral Drilling Services Pty Ltd and Advanced Bore Services Pty Ltd
respectively.
Drilling is set to begin early August and is due to be completed by June 2015..
Austral drill production rig in
operation
Once the drilling program has been completed, design will commence for a new pipeline which
will be installed to deliver water to the new horticultural precinct.
Electrification of existing northern borefield and new borefield
The electrification of the existing northern borefield (NBF) is another important component of the GFB
project. It will lower pumping costs significantly, compared to current diesel generation and create a
more reliable power system for all growers and the community as a whole.
The contract for the electrification of the northern borefield has been awarded to Horizon Power.
Works have commenced and are due for completion in September.
Civil works
The infrastructure corridor for the existing northern borefield has been completed, with access
paths now being developed for the new northern borefield drilling program.
caption for photo
All residents are reminded that the northern borefield isThis
nowisaaconstruction
site and strict entry
protocols are in force.
Existing northern
borefield completed
infrastructure
corridor
2
Land expansion: the process explained
The GFB initiative will see 400 hectares of additional land and infrastructure for horticulture development
released to the market. A further 800 hectares of land will also be identified for future expansion.
To date, technical studies including an airborne electromagnetic survey (AEM) analysis, soil surveys, revised
floodway modelling, land use constraints mapping and flora surveys have taken place to identify suitable
parcels of unconstrained land. As a result of this work, approximately 600 hectares of high to moderate
capability land has been identified for potential annual and perennial horticulture.
The next step in the GFB land expansion process is land tenure change. There are various types of land
tenure in Carnarvon which will involve changing land primarily from Unallocated or Vacant Crown Land and
Pastoral lease tenure into freehold, which importantly requires Native Title negotiations to occur.
Simultaneously, further technical and land use planning studies also need to occur to include the new areas
into the Shire of Carnarvon’s ‘Town Planning Scheme 10’.
The process to change the land tenure and amend the Shire of Carnarvon Local Town Planning Scheme is a
complex process defined by statutory requirements.
Below is a flow chart identifying some high level key milestones in this work. Some of this can be undertaken
simultaneously, while some can only occur following a linear pathway. The approximate time frame is two
years.
As you can see a lot of underlying processes are involved in
changing land tenure. This process is key to enabling the
release of the new horticultural land to the market and will be
on-going in the background for the next couple of years.
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Market analysis
An expanded horticultural precinct is seen as a key driver for the Carnarvon horticultural industry to reach a
production scale that will support export markets, and therefore increase opportunities for existing and new
producers to market their produce both domestically and internationally. Economic studies on developing new
and target markets investigating existing and new market opportunities and to consider the impacts of growth
on industry development are being developed. Independent contractors are being sourced for an
independent review of DAFWA studies on export opportunities for Carnarvon.
Carnarvon
produce being
transported
Next Steps
The next steps you can look forward to seeing are:





full Council briefing on 12 August
work to start on the consultancy services for the town planning studies
drilling beginning in August
electrification of the northern Borefield to be completed September 2014
next newsletter due out in October
The project team would like to hear your feedback and comments. Please
e-mail Gascoyne@agric.wa.gov.au
Important disclaimer
The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Agriculture and Food and the State of Western Australia accept no liability whatsoever by reason of
negligence or otherwise arising from the use or release of this publication
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