A plan to inject more than 500 new houses into Western Australia’s Government Regional Officer Housing Program using money from the state’s biggest miners has been panned as an admission Labor had dropped the ball on regional development over the past decade.
Premier Roger Cook made the announcement at a Chamber of Minerals and Energy breakfast on Tuesday, where he also announced the “Seven Cities” initiative aimed at improving infrastructure and housing in the regional centres of Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Port Hedland, Broome, Geraldton and Albany.
Of the 500-plus new GROH homes, 305 would be built in Karratha and Port Hedland, 54 in Broome, 113 in Kalgoorlie, 37 in Geraldton and 26 in Albany. Bunbury will not receive any homes because its proximity to Perth means it does not have an established GROH program.
Homes provided under the initiative offer subsidised rent to public servants including teachers and police to entice them to work in regional WA.
The new homes will be built over the next five years, with the upcoming budget including $419 million over the next four years to start the builds.
About $170 million of that will come from Rio Tinto, BHP and Hancock Prospecting via the Resources Community Investment Initiative, with Rio Tinto tipping in $100 million which will also see homes built near its operations in Wickham, Tom Price, Paraburdoo and Roebourne.
Despite WA’s growing population, the state’s regional housing program has remained stagnant.
In June 2016, there were 5512 GROH properties and by June 2025 that had reduced by nine to 5503 properties.
Nationals leader Shane Love said he had no faith the government could deliver on its promise.
“Today’s announcement of a number of houses to be built in politically key areas for this Labor government is more about the preservation of Labor than it is about regional development,” he said.
“Whilst I acknowledge that this is a significant investment in housing that’s been announced, we have seen that the delivery of the projects and programs that this government has announced over the years has been woeful.
“I think you’ll see that the government will be doing its best to put a degree of lipstick on the pig around this.”
Cook denied the Seven Cities and GROH plan was a nice slogan for work the government should already be doing.
“This is about setting a new path, a new vision for our state, which goes beyond the traditional industries of just resources, agriculture and the industries that hang off the side of that,” he said.
“What we are doing now is seizing the opportunity of becoming renewable energy powerhouse, diversifying our economy through affordable, low carbon, reliable energy, and then moving forward with our Made in WA Plan to bring manufacturing to our state.
“Now, the only place this will happen in at scale is in regional WA, where you will have renewable energy on tap, where you have the resources readily and closely available, and where you have the space to set up these big industries at scale.
“These industries need skilled and large workforces, and the only way we’re going to be able to make them available is if we have these people in regional WA, living, working, raising a family and continuing to grow our great state.”
Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Matt Holcz said being a good partner with the community meant investing in teachers, in police, in nurses, in essential services to help those towns be safe.
“An important part of essential services is making sure the right housing is in place,” he said.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.