DEFENCE INDUSTRY —
INVESTMENT
699. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to diversifying the Western Australian economy
through its investment in our defence industry. Can the Premier update the
house on how the government is working to grow our defence industry workforce
and create new employment opportunities, particularly for skilled workers?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
I thank the member for Southern
River for the question.
We are investing significantly in
diversification initiatives such as local manufacturing. With BHP and Rio
Tinto, I recently announced that we will be manufacturing iron ore railcars in Western
Australia again, which is terrific. We are manufacturing railcars for our
Metronet lines here in Western Australia for the first time in 30 years,
something the Liberal Party had closed down.
We are building new film studios
just south of Whiteman Park, which will be a significant achievement and
diversification initiative for Western Australia. We have the future health
research and innovation fund for medical research, which provides ongoing
funding for medical researchers in Western Australia.
We are also putting in a huge effort
for defence industry. The other day, I was out with the Minister for Defence
Industry and the Minister for Education and Training at the Rockingham TAFE
campus, where we have put in place significant training opportunities for Western
Australians in the defence industry. We launched four new state-of-the-art machines known as computer numerical
control—CNC—machines. People can train with specialist
equipment that can manufacture parts for machinery that is used in the defence
industry, in particular. People will find that equipment in workshops on the
Kwinana strip and in Cockburn and the like, so they can train on them at
Rockingham TAFE so they can go into a job in the defence industry that uses
those machines.
South Metropolitan TAFE is leading
the country in this area. It was awarded Academic Institution of the Year at
this year's Australian Defence Industry Awards. We have made TAFE more
available to Western Australians by slashing
fees by up to 72 per cent. Remember that the last government put the fees up by
over 500 per cent for many courses for Western Australians. Therefore,
we slashed the fees for TAFE so that Western Australians can get their
birthright, which is the opportunity for training and getting a job in the
state.
The Western Australian defence
industry workforce development plan 2022–27 was launched last week
as well so that we can be in the mix and
present to the commonwealth that Western Australia is a great place for defence
work.