(1) The Commissioners shall divide the State into regions so that those regions generally reflect the recognised communities of interest and land use patterns in the State and so that ¾

(a) 3 contiguous regions, to be known, respectively, as the North Metropolitan Region (being a region that is generally to the north of the Swan River), the South Metropolitan Region (being a region that is generally to the south of the Swan River) and the East Metropolitan Region (being a region that includes the hills and foothills of the Darling Escarpment) ¾

(i) each consist of approximately the same number of complete and contiguous districts; and

(ii) together form an area that is generally coextensive with the metropolitan area of Perth;

(b) one region, to be known as the Mining and Pastoral Region, consists of complete and contiguous districts that together form an area that is remote from Perth and in which the land use is primarily for mining and pastoral purposes;

(c) one region, to be known as the Agricultural Region, consists of complete and contiguous districts that together form an area that is generally south, or south and west, of and adjacent to the Mining and Pastoral Region and in which the land use is primarily for agricultural purposes; and

(d) one region, to be known as the South West Region (being a region that includes coastal and forest areas in the south-west of the State), consists of complete and contiguous districts.

(2) In subsection (1) ¾

}metropolitan area of Perth~ means the part of the State that comprises ¾

(a) the region that was, as at the relevant day, described in the Third Schedule to the Metropolitan Region Town Planning Scheme Act 1959; and

(b) Rottnest Island.

[Section 16H inserted by No. 1 of 2005 s. 4.]