JOBS — REGIONS
435. Ms L. DALTON to the Minister for State Development,
Jobs and Trade:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to maximising local content, creating local
jobs and supporting local businesses.
(1) Can the minister update the house on how the Western
Australian Jobs Act is providing more opportunities for Western Australian
businesses, in particular those in regional WA?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how this is helping to create more jobs for Western
Australians?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for the question. The member for Geraldton knows how important
it is to make sure that we, as a government, can provide prosperity through
jobs, and keep people safe and provide them with great health and wellbeing.
That is nowhere more important than it is in regional Western Australia. One
thing that this government has focused on is to make creating jobs for people
throughout the state a fundamental tenet of
everything that we do. In October 2018, the Western Australian industry participation
strategy—or WAIPS as it is known—was launched as a requirement
of the Western Australian Jobs Act. The jobs act, of course, was enacted after
the government came to office in 2017.
WAIPS is a keystone component of the
government's commitment to WA jobs and ensures that local businesses benefit from an even greater share of
the $30 billion worth of procurement that state governments undertake
each year. Under WAIPS, prospective suppliers are required to submit
participation plans to outline their commitments to employ and involve local WA
businesses in supply opportunities. Once a contract is awarded, the approved
participation plan is incorporated into the contracts of the successful
suppliers to ensure that they deliver upon their commitments to local industry.
Successful bidders are required to report on the fulfilment of their plans.
As I said previously, the government
has a lot of reasons to be happy about the work that is being done under the jobs act. In fact, I am sure that all
members will be very happy to hear that there are 43 000 reasons to be happy—43 000 jobs have been created
as a result of WAIPS. More than 450 plans have been received, which have committed to those 43 000 jobs, of
which 12 000 were created in regional WA. On top of that, 2 800 apprenticeships
and traineeships have been supported by WAIPS, of which 986 are in regional WA.
This underscores our commitment to ensure
that we continue to skill up our young people and provide them with the
opportunity to get the training and the jobs that they need to thrive in our
community.
Let us be under no illusion: a lot of
hard work is still to be done on the constraints around our workforce and
skills, which is why the government had a skills summit recently, which created
a lot of really good outcomes and engagement with industry about what we need
to do to continue to create opportunities for our young people. However,
supporting more than 43 000 jobs in less than three years shows that the Western
Australian Jobs Act is working, creating opportunities for local businesses and
apprentices, and making sure that we keep Western Australians in a prosperous,
safe, happy and healthy place.