GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS — ABORIGINAL
PROCUREMENT POLICY
356. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Minister for Finance:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's landmark
Aboriginal procurement policy that provides greater opportunities for
Aboriginal businesses in securing government contracts—something that
was never implemented by the Liberal and National Parties.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on how this policy is delivering unprecedented support
for Aboriginal businesses and helping drive greater economic benefits to the
Aboriginal community?
(2) Can the
minister advise whether he is aware of anyone who has questioned the importance
of this policy?
Dr A.D. BUTI replied:
(1)–(2)
I thank the member for Landsdale for this
question and also for her interest and expertise in this area. It is certainly a landmark policy. Before I go on to the
policy, a newly minted Liberal member in the upper house, Hon Neil
Thomson, made some very narrow-minded comments about this policy during the
winter break. He called it window-dressing and said that targets were really a moot
point when it comes to government contracts
with Aboriginal business operators. It is perplexing to have a member of the
Liberal Party question a landmark policy that seeks to enhance business
opportunities.
Let
me remind the house of the success of this policy. It has been going for two
years. In the first two years, the
McGowan government awarded 413 contracts to Aboriginal business operators at a value
of more than $350 million. In 2019–20,
234 contracts were awarded to Aboriginal businesses. That is about 5.5 per cent
of government contracts for the year. What happened under the previous Liberal–National
government? I know the member for Landsdale is asking me whether that was the
Barnett–Grylls government or the Barnett–Redman government.
Well, nothing happened. We do not know what happened because it did not keep
track of the contracts made with Aboriginal business operators. It did not
encourage contracts with Aboriginal business operators and it did not keep any
figures on Aboriginal business operators. So, it is a bit rich for a member of
the opposition to say that our landmark policy is basically window-dressing.
Hon
Neil Thomson indicated that he believes that our policy is basically, in his
words, a ''welfare measure''. It is not a welfare measure;
it actually seeks to create a sustainable environment for Aboriginal business operators to grow. He claims that it has had
minimal impact on the Indigenous employment situation. That is just farcical.
As we know, Aboriginal business operators are more inclined to employ
Aboriginal workers.
I was recently down in the
beautiful town of Albany. Minister for Health, I visited the Albany radiation oncology
project—a fantastic project. As part of that project, a local
Indigenous company called Impact Services had been engaged to provide and
support Indigenous trainees to work on the project. That is what this policy
aims to do. The Minister for Transport has secured record funding for one of
the biggest improvements to regional roads in the state's history. I am
sure that Nationals WA members will congratulate the Minister for Transport for
that work. These projects have an increased proportion of Aboriginal business
operators and they are not only employing Aboriginal workers, but also
providing career pathways and long-term opportunities. The member for Kimberley
will be aware that $330 million worth of road projects are underway in the
Kimberley, some of which have set targets of 30 per cent Aboriginal employment.
Hon Neil Thomson should ask one of the 142 Aboriginal business operators that
we have contracted whether this is window-dressing.
In conclusion, member for
Landsdale, I would like Hon Neil Thomson to look at his inaugural speech in the upper house when he said he received some
family advice, which was ''be honest and don't exaggerate''.