Scott Leary MLA

Albany MLA Scott Leary has backed a formal petition to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly calling on the Cook Labor Government to retain Albany’s reticulated LPG network and commit to a long-term energy solution for the city.

The petition is being led by Les Palmer, owner of Rustlers Steakhouse and Grill, one of hundreds of Albany businesses facing significant cost and disruption as a result of ATCO’s decision to exit the Albany gas market.

“Albany is the only comparable city in Western Australia without access to a regulated reticulated gas network,” Mr Leary said. “Every other major regional centre has that standard of infrastructure. What this Government is proposing for Albany is simply not good enough.”

The petition calls on the State Government to retain the existing network through public ownership, regulatory intervention, infrastructure funding or legislative action and to commit to ensuring Albany has access to the same standard of energy infrastructure as comparable communities across Western Australia.

Mr Leary said the consequences extended well beyond individual households.

“Businesses that cannot afford to transition will close, jobs will be lost, and Albany’s appeal as a place to live, work and visit will suffer. Tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, food production, these industries rely on affordable, reliable energy. Get this wrong and the impact on Albany’s economy and standard of living will be felt for decades.”

A ministerial response received this week confirmed the Government had no intention of acting.

“The Minister says this is a commercial matter relating to privately owned infrastructure and therefore beyond the Government’s remit,” Mr Leary said. “That is the Government accepting a private company’s decision without question and leaving Albany to carry the consequences alone and that is not good enough for a city of this size and significance.”

“The decisions made now will shape Albany’s economic future for generations. This community deserves a Government prepared to think seriously about what that future looks like.”

First promised in May 2022, re-announced ahead of the 2025 election — and still not built.

Albany residents who rely on public dental care are being failed on two fronts, by a chronically understaffed existing clinic that struggles to provide consistent service and by a State Government that committed to building a new facility more than four years ago and has delivered nothing.

The existing Albany General Dental Clinic, co-located within the Albany Health Campus, has experienced periods where no dentist has been available at all. It relies heavily on short-term locum dentists contracted weeks at a time, alongside a permanent dentist working only two days per week. Service can also depend on whether a dental nurse is available on any given day. Patients are reporting wait times of up to three years for non-urgent general dental care.

On 3 May 2022, Premier Mark McGowan and Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson committed $13 million to build and operate a new Albany General Dental Clinic.

The commitment first appeared in the 2022-23 budget papers with all funding allocated to outyears and nothing committed for current-year spending.

From 2023-24 onwards, the current-year allocation has been nil in every single budget year. The estimated total project cost has sat static at $10,490,000 across every budget, while actual expenditure across all years amounts to approximately $291,000, less than three cents in every committed dollar.

This is not a project being delivered slowly. This is a project that has stalled almost before it began.

Rather than acknowledge the failure, the Government chose to re-announce the same commitment ahead of the 2025 state election, with the Cook Labor Government’s Vision for Albany document promising $12.9 million and committing to “double the capacity of the Albany Dental Clinic.”

Two announcements at two different dollar figures.

Actual progress: negligible. In the current 2026-27 budget, the current-year allocation is again nil, with funds now pushed into 2027-28 and 2028-29 outyears.

The Albany Health Campus is a site under enormous pressure and the dental clinic’s continued presence there is untenable.

The original commitment was for a new facility and that remains the right solution. A standalone community-based clinic, better suited to primary dental care and not competing for space with emergency and surgical services, is what was promised and what Albany deserves.

The Government must now provide the community with a genuine account of this project including a firm commencement and completion date, a credible plan to deliver the new facility that was promised in 2022, and urgent action to address the staffing crisis and the three-year wait times that patients are currently enduring.

Re-announcing the same commitment with a new dollar figure is not good enough.

Albany residents deserve a dental clinic that exists in reality, not just in budget papers.

The selection of Albany as the host destination for the WA Tourism Conference 2027 is a fantastic outcome for the Great Southern and a well-deserved recognition of the region’s growing reputation as one of Western Australia’s premier tourism destinations.

Scott Leary MLA Member for Albany, Shadow Minister for Tourism, said it would be an honour for Albany to welcome tourism leaders, operators and industry stakeholders from across the State.

After attending the 2026 WA Tourism Council Conference in Carnarvon last week Mr Leary could see it was a driver for the region and welcomes that for the Great Southern.

“Albany has long been one of Western Australia’s most iconic destinations, offering visitors a unique combination of natural beauty, rich history, world-class food and wine and unforgettable experiences,” Mr Leary said.

“Hosting the WA Tourism Conference in 2027 presents a wonderful opportunity to showcase the vast array of tourism attractions, accommodation options and activities available throughout Albany and the wider Great Southern region.”

“From our spectacular coastline and national parks to our cultural heritage and local businesses, delegates will have the opportunity to experience firsthand why Albany continues to attract visitors from across Australia and around the world.”

“This conference will not only highlight everything our region has to offer but also deliver valuable economic benefits for local tourism operators and businesses.

Albany MLA Scott Leary says the Cook Labor Government still cannot answer basic questions about the proposed closure of Albany’s reticulated gas network, despite repeatedly claiming it is supporting the community through the transition.

“Last week I received the answers to four detailed Questions on Notice to the Minister for Energy, and honestly, the answers were shorter than the questions themselves,” Mr Leary said. “The Government keeps referring to an $80 million figure to replace the network, but as far as anyone can tell, that figure comes from ATCO’s own media statement.”

“There has been no publicly released independent engineering assessment, no detailed modelling and no explanation of how that number was reached.”

Mr Leary said the Government appeared to have accepted the claims of a foreign-owned private company without independently verifying the information.

“That is extraordinary when you are talking about potentially forcing around 8,000 homes and businesses through a major energy transition,” he said.

Mr Leary said the Government’s announcement delaying the decommissioning process until 2027 did not address the bigger issue.

“A delay is not a solution,” he said. “The Government says this gives families and businesses more time to assess their options, but it still cannot explain whether alternatives like staged upgrades or partial replacement of the network were ever properly considered.”

Mr Leary also questioned the Government’s failure to explain what impact the transition would have on Albany’s electricity network.

“Thousands of households shifting hot water systems, heating and cooking appliances onto electricity will place significant additional demand on the grid,” he said. “Where are the plans for transformer upgrades, feeder upgrades and substation capacity? We are not talking about replacing a lamp or a toaster. These are major household systems that cost real money to replace and use significant amounts of power.”

Mr Leary said the Government’s own messaging on regional manufacturing also conflicted with the proposed removal of critical energy infrastructure from Albany.

“You cannot talk about industry development, manufacturing and regional growth while removing an entire energy system from a regional city without clearly explaining the long-term plan,” he said.

Mr Leary said Albany residents deserved transparency and independent scrutiny before any final decision was made.

“This is one of the biggest infrastructure and cost-of-living issues facing Albany in decades,” he said. “The community deserves confidence that every possible option has been properly explored before this network is shut down.”