Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt tours CBH’s Kwinana Grain Terminal with $400m rail spend under way

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt’s most recent trip to WA reached dizzying heights when he visited the top of CBH Group’s Kwinana Grain Terminal just days before a $400 million upgrade to the State’s grain on rail network broke ground. Mr Watt — in WA for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s history-making Cabinet meeting in Port Hedland on February 21 — teamed up with his WA counterpart Jackie Jarvis to tour the facility just one day before flying to the Pilbara. They were guided through the towering grain terminal by CBH chief executive Ben Macnamara and chair Simon Stead, who used the opportunity to showcase the biggest grains export terminal in the Southern Hemisphere on February 20. It was fitting timing for the tour, with a $200m government upgrade — $160m of which has been funded by the Commonwealth — to WA’s grain on rail network kicking off last week with a sod-turning ceremony at Brookton. CBH Group plans to match the State and Federal funding with a $200m contribution to build rapid rail loading infrastructure at those 11 sites, to speed up how grain can be loaded into trains. The money was announced in May, one month before Mr Watt was appointed Federal Agriculture Minister, under Package 1 of the WA Agricultural Supply Chain Improvements initiative. It kickstarted the biggest upgrade WA’s grain on rail network in more than a decade. CBH chief executive Ben Macnamara said it was good timing for Mr Watt to meet with the business, which is Australia’s biggest co-operative, grain handler and marketer, with a record 26Mt harvest drawing to a close in WA. While it wasn’t Mr Watt’s first meeting with CBH, it was his first time stepping onto a CBH-owned site or visiting its infrastructure. CBH Group is in the thick of out-turning as much of the 22.7Mt delivered across its network of upcountry sites to international customers in the first half of the calendar year, when grain prices are higher for Australian farmers. Also joining the tour were GrainGrowers Limited chair Rhys Turton, who farms at York, and Grain Producers Australia western region director Gerard Paganoni, who farms at Broomehill. WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis — who has toured the Kwinana Grain Terminal before — said the visit was a chance to “show and tell” what the State’s grain farmers and CBH were capable of. “Mr Watt is new to the agriculture portfolio, and I think he was really impressed,” he said. “We got to see the trains coming in, and unloading grain. “Nearly half of WA’s grain crop comes through this terminal each year and it was exciting to see this season’s record-breaking crop being delivered.” Ms Jarvis said the State Government was proud to partner with the Federal Government on the $200m ASCI program. “It will see our rail freight infrastructure upgraded to improve the efficiency of our supply chains,” she said. “These improvements, together with CBH’s significant investment across the network, will maximise value for growers, getting more tonnes to port earlier, to capture early shipping price premiums.” Mr Watt took to social media after the tour to say investing in WA’s rail and road infrastructure would help the “vital industry” generate exports and jobs in regional and metro areas.