Money to plan multi-purpose centre

Horsham-based Wimmera Aboriginal co-operative Goolum Goolum has received $50,000 of state government money to develop a business case for a new multi-purpose facility.

The money will be used to develop a plan for a building that can house the co-operative’s growing operations, with chief executive Tony Craig admitting the organisation had ‘pretty much outgrown’ its current facilities at 43 Hamilton Street, Horsham.

He said a business case for a new building would put the organisation in good stead for the future.

“Infrastructure is a bit of an issue for Aboriginal organisations at the moment, so when this funding opportunity came through we took it on board and put forward our case,” he said.

“It’s a good chance to have something ready to go for future opportunities as far as infrastructure funding goes.

“You need to have something that’s well developed, costed, and of course, meets our community’s demands.”

Mr Craig said it was clear any new building needed to be able to serve different groups and purposes. He said there would be plenty of community consultation during the development of the business case.

“It really needs to be a multi-purpose facility,” he said.

“It needs to be culturally appropriate and inviting. We’re going to have a series of community consultations, but we need to also meet our program service delivery demands.

“That requires different spaces and different buildings to what we’ve got. “We’ve pretty much outgrown them. “It’s about getting a purpose-built facility, where our community can meet and engage with each other, with their culture and with the services we provide.

“We don’t just want another building for the sake of having a building, we want to make it very welcoming and inviting for our community members to engage with us and with each other.”

Mr Craig said the development of a business case was expected to take 12 months.

“There’s a project plan where we have to meet criteria along the way and hit certain goals in certain timeframes,” he said.

“Within 12 months we hope to have a clear architectural plan and a reasonable costing estimate of what this would cost us if we were to take it to the next step.”

Member for Western Victoria Jaala Pulford said the funding of a business case was a step towards improving the lives of Aboriginal people in the Wimmera.

“Giving Aboriginal organisations across Western Victoria the funding to improve their facilities so they can better plan their own future goes to the heart of self-determination and helps close the gap,” she said.