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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 748 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 24 September 2020 by Mr T.J. Healy

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

STATE ECONOMY — LOCAL JOBS AND BUSINESSES

748. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Treasurer:

I refer to the measures undertaken by the McGowan Labor government to drive economic growth in Western Australia, which delivered the biggest monthly growth of new jobs on record in August. Can the Treasurer outline to the house how the McGowan Labor government is continuing to support local jobs and local businesses, including through government procurement processes, and advise the house on whether he is aware of any plans that would penalise local businesses and fail to deliver any increases in local content?

Mr B.S. WYATT replied:

I thank the member for Southern River for that question. Indeed, one of the great success stories of this government has been the jobs act. As the member for Southern River knows, it has delivered for Western Australians over 22 000 jobs, including about 1 400 traineeships and apprenticeships. But after 1 293 days, member for Dawesville, something strange happened. Something out of the ordinary happened. The opposition released a policy. It took 1 293 days. The policy appeared on the weekend. I never thought that the first policy from this particular Liberal opposition would be on local jobs. I note from the Leader of the Opposition's website that the policy titled ''The Local Jobs Guarantee'' states —

This approach has existed in Queensland since 2018.

I did not think that the opposition would borrow its policy for local jobs from another state, but there is a fundamental difference between Queensland and Western Australia—a fundamental difference; about 800 000 square kilometres, to be precise. The opposition, after 1 293 days, borrowed a policy from Queensland and decided to overlay that onto Western Australia. That does two things. As the Minister for Planning said, it means that companies like Multiplex and Clough would no longer be able to bid for and win contracts in Western Australia. I want regional members of Parliament to understand very clearly that this will dramatically penalise regional contractors. I am not surprised that the Australian Contractors Association is so hostile to it. I will give members an example. One of the great success stories in regional Western Australia is a company known as Crothers Construction. It used to be known as a Geraldton building company—the member for Geraldton is not in the chamber—but Crothers has been incredibly successful at winning contracts in metropolitan Perth. At the end of my street, Victoria Park Primary School is undergoing a big development that is funded by this government, the contract for which was won by Crothers. That would be banned under the Leader of the Opposition's policy. Crothers would be banned from winning the Yanchep Lagoon Primary School contract. The Banksia Grove Primary School contract—banned. The Wanneroo Primary School contract—banned. It would be banned from bidding for and winning the Darling Range Sports College contract. I remind members that Crothers is a very successful Geraldton-headquartered company that has about $65 million worth of contracts in metropolitan Perth. That allows Crothers to employ people in regional Western Australia who contribute to the regional economy. Under the Leader of the Opposition's and the WA Liberal Party's policy, it would not be able to do that.

The further madness to this policy is that because the opposition applied Queensland numbers to Western Australia, it would effectively stop regional companies from bidding for and winning work in their own regions. Crothers is one example, but there are countless others. I have a list of them involving me just as the Minister for Finance. The Minister for Water and others have all sorts of examples that they will go through. DLR Building Co Pty Ltd is another good organisation. It is based in Exmouth and won a contract for the Carnarvon Research Facility in Carnarvon. It could not do that under the WA Liberal Party's policy. There is example after example of regional companies that will be banned under the WA Liberal Party's policy from winning work, particularly in metropolitan Perth. That is the perverse outcome of what the Liberal Party is trying to do. I am not surprised that the shadow Treasurer, when questioned about whether he supports the policy, sits there mute. It is not often that he is mute. As the Premier said, he mumbles and grumbles all the way through question time most of the time, but now he is sitting there mute. The opposition was lazy. It simply looked at the other states to come up with a policy and said, ''That's what we're going to do.'' It should be able to produce something much better than what it has produced. Make no mistake, this is a threat to regional businesses. Simply borrowing a policy from Queensland—the place where members of the opposition bought our railcars when they were last in government—will penalise regional businesses. This is a policy that we will fight, and we will fight it strongly.

Mr D.A. Templeman interjected.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, I call you to order for the first time. Sink further down into your chair so I cannot see you.