JOBS —PILBARA
727. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the Leader of the House representing
the Premier:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon
Jacqui Boydell, who is away on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to the comments made by the chief executive officer
of the City of Karratha in the Pilbara News today —
''Karratha today has three
times more jobs than Bunbury, it has 10 times more jobs than Midland, and 20 times
more jobs than Busselton advertised today,''
�
''We simply don't
have enough people to fill the jobs we need.
(1) Does the state government
support a Pilbara-based designated area migration agreement?
(2) If no to (1),
what is the government doing to ensure businesses in the Pilbara have access to
appropriate labour?
(3) What programs
has the government put in place to assist people to move their families to the
Pilbara for work?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) As mentioned in the article, not
at this stage.
(2)–(3) The
McGowan government's priority is to put Western Australians first when
it comes to securing jobs in WA and makes no apology for that. Beyond that, we
also want the people of the Pilbara to see the benefits from the resources
projects that happen there. I also note that one of the pull factors for people
moving to a particular region or local government authority is the availability
of employment. Assuming that the quoted advertisements are correct, it would
appear that the City of Karratha is well positioned to attract new residents
who wish to work locally.