Amber-Jade Sanderson pledges $12.4m to build residential drug and alcohol rehab facility in Great Southern

The Great Southern will no longer be the only WA region without a residential rehabilitation facility if Labor wins the 2025 State election, with the party pledging $12.4 million to establish a local centre this week. Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson announced the funding for the alcohol and drugs rehab at Albany Health Campus on Tuesday, saying the promise was founded on years of strong community advocacy. “This is an important service provision that is needed in this region,” she said. “We know that when people are ready to address their drug and alcohol issues, for many people, a residential service is the best service to help them in their recovery journey and to live the best lives that they can live. “With structured, 24/7 support, this new residential rehabilitation and withdrawal centre will help people struggling with addiction in the Great Southern to get their lives back on track.” The facility would include up to 20 beds for adults and a withdrawal centre that would offer care and supervision for clients as they ease off addictive substances. Albany resident Sam Turton — who had to make about a 600km round trip for his residential rehab treatment — said having a facility closer to home would have made his recovery journey a lot easier. “It’s hard enough dealing with things like withdrawals and having to leave people that you love geographically 400km or 500km away,” he said. “It’s difficult to try and focus on your recovery while thinking about how far away you are from your husband or your wife and your family and children. “I like to think that it might have been a little more of a comfortable ride.” The need for a dedicated AOD residential rehab in the Great Southern has been highlighted for more than a decade, since the Barnett government listed creating a 16-bed facility as a priority in the WA Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Service Plan 2015-2025. The latest push has been by the Southern Aboriginal Corporation, which has produced an updated business plan for a 22-bed facility every few years since 2016 and a petition for State Government funding in October last year. Ms Sanderson confirmed that the service provider who successfully secured the tender would be encouraged to partner with an Aboriginal medical service or corporation to support clients. Member for Abany Rebecca Stephens, who has advocated for the centre since 2021, said she knows those touched by addiction in Albany would welcome the project. “I had a family member who had to leave Albany to go and get those services and hasn’t returned,” she said. “Losing that sense of community and the loss of connection to family has been devastating and I think it’s really important that this announcement will ensure, if people choose to, they can stay within the Great Southern and have their rehabilitation with services and support.” Ms Sanderson said the Government was “agnostic” as to whether the facility would inhabit an existing building or require new construction, leaving the decision up the service providers.