Murdoch University has scrapped its plan for a multi-million-dollar inner-city vertical campus that had been a central plank of the highly touted Perth City Deal.
The Murdoch project, which was estimated to cost $250 million and set to inject more than 10,000 students to the CBD, has been abandoned due to the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university said.
"While the CBD campus had merit, the impact of COVID on the University's finances required us to review our priorities and it was necessary to advise the government at the earliest opportunity that the University would be unable to progress the CBD campus," a Murdoch spokesperson said.
Murdoch said it would instead focus on the construction of a new building at its South Street campus in Perth's southern suburbs.
Speaking at budget estimates on Monday, WA's Education Minister Sue Ellery said the state government was disappointed Murdoch had pulled out of the Perth City Deal.
"The proposal was predicated on an increase in international students. Given the impact of COVID-19, Murdoch has reconsidered its proposal," she said.
"That is disappointing to the government."
'They couldn't make it work': McGowan
Premier Mark McGowan said the state government had invested $41 million in programs that would help bring international students back to universities.
"The two years of closed international borders was a Commonwealth government decision which I supported," he told ABC Perth.
He said Murdoch University did not ask the state government for extra money.
"They couldn't make it work," he said.
"Murdoch University's made that decision but just remember we've got Edith Cowan's WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) coming into the city."
Edith Cowan University (ECU) is planning an $853 million new inner-city campus as part of the Perth City Deal, with the campus expected to attract more than 10,000 students and staff when it opens in 2025.
That project received a $98 million government funding boost earlier this year.
City Deal will invigorate CBD: government
The Perth City Deal is a jointly funded $1.7 billion project between the state, federal and local governments, aimed at bringing jobs, tourists, students and vibrancy to the city.
As part of the deal, redevelopments of the Concert Hall, Cultural Centre and WACA Ground are scheduled to be completed over the next few years.
Alongside redevelopments and new infrastructure projects, three WA universities were planned to set up inner-city campuses, bringing tens of thousands of students and staff to CBD.
The WA government had originally committed $50 million towards campuses for Murdoch and Curtin and $150 million towards ECU's significantly larger proposal.
But since then, cost blowouts on the ECU campus have led to extra funds being committed by both state and federal governments.
Ms Ellery told parliament the money the government initially committed to Murdoch would now go towards the ECU campus.
"Edith Cowan University's inner-city campus was facing significant cost escalation pressures," she said.
"The state government worked with the previous commonwealth government to address those issues."
Hard border 'alienated' international markets: Opposition
Opposition leader Mia Davies said the government should not shirk responsibility for what it had done, and the impact of the state's border rules.
"This government has made an art form of alienating not only our interstate potential workers, clients, visitors, but also international markets," she said.
"We see the Premier about to jet off overseas, leaving a $5.7 billion surplus and West Australians struggling to make ends meet to try and repair some of that damage.
"They absolutely let the city and the state down by not trying to maintain those relationships and hold onto that deal."
