JOBS — LOCAL
WORKERS
221. Hon CHARLES SMITH to the minister representing the
Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade:
I refer to the recent deal in New
South Wales between the New South Wales state government and Wipro with the
contract stating that 30 per cent of the workforce will come from India, and I also
refer to the Australian Population Research Institute warning in its 2016
report entitled, ''Immigration Overflow: Why it Matters'', which
examined the widespread rorting of Australia's visa system.
Does the McGowan Labor government
have any assurances for Western Australian workers that they will not be replaced by cheap foreign labour or interstate
workers on future public and private large-scale contracts and projects?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN
replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The Premier has provided the following answer.
The Western Australian state
government does not concern itself with the actions and activities of the New
South Wales Liberal government. However, maximising local jobs is in the DNA of
the Labor Party. This is evident through the fact that the McGowan government
has already replaced the WA skilled migration occupation list, reducing the
number of occupations on the list from 178 in 2016 to just 18 currently.
In addition, the Western Australian
Jobs Bill 2017 was passed on 7 December 2017. This is the first piece of
legislation that applies to all state departments, agencies, statutory
authorities and government trading enterprises and all forms of procurement.
Work has also commenced on a local jobs bill to ensure that benefits from major
projects within the mining, oil and gas and construction industry sectors will
flow through to local businesses. This will create more local jobs for Western Australians.
With the introduction of this bill, the government aims to maximise local
content across private sector infrastructure and resources projects within the
state.