PROBUS CLUB of MANDURAH PEEL Inc

                                                                                        Reg No - A1019730Z

                        **GUEST SPEAKERS**          

                                  Organised by Kerry Grover

At our General monthly meetings we are privileged to have a guest speaker who is happy to come along and give a talk on their particular vocation or special interest. Whether it be travel, environmental issues, charities, political, professions, sports, writers, adventurers etc, we can be sure that whatever their choice of subject is, we will always be treated to a very informative and interesting presentation. 

July 2026

The invited speaker was Rhys Williams MLA, the Mayor of Mandurah for the past seven years.

Rhys provided information on his background growing up in Dawesville, Mandurah. The main topics of his presentation covered the building of a new hospital, the issue of housing, and the provision of TAFE courses as a pathway to jobs.

Rhys explained that the current hospital was built in 1997 to cater for a population of 30,000 people. With the growth of the City now at a population level of 100,000, a decision was made to build a new multi-storey hospital next to the current site which will be converted into an aged care residence once the new facility is operational.

The new hospital will contain two emergency departments - general and mental health. The detailed design will be available in five weeks with a completion date at the end of 2029. It will incorporate WA's first 'Eating Disorder Clinic’ and an 'Urgent Care Clinic'.

The issue of education and skills for employment was covered in a discussion on a pathways programme, with Mandurah TAFE offering both free and low fee courses. Rhys stated that the skilling of these participants was a move toward filling some of the staffing shortages experienced in Mandurah.

This led onto the topic of housing and rental issues as a global problem. A project is currently underway in Mandurah to meet the needs of the homeless population. The construction of the 'Common Ground' residence follows a very successful model developed in New York. It will contain 52 units with around half of the occupants from the priority housing list with others who are currently on the streets. The provision of accommodation is conditional on tenants accessing available support services such as drug and alcohol dependence and financial counselling. The residence is close to the train station and buses. Rhys pointed out that the largest cohort of homeless people were women over the age of 60.

Rhys answered many of the members' questions before being formally thanked for his very interesting presentation by Carol Hoult.