CORONAVIRUS — FLY IN, FLY OUT WORKERS
439. Ms S.E. WINTON to
the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's efforts to
get eastern states–based fly in, fly out workers to relocate
permanently to Western Australia. Can the Premier advise the house what this
will mean for Western Australia's economy—particularly small
business—and outline to the house what incentives there are for those
workers who move permanently to WA?
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
I thank the member for Wanneroo for the question. The
resources sector has been impacted by COVID-19, like every other sector of the
economy, but from as far back as February this year we have been working hand-in-glove
with the sector to ensure it remains open and continues to provide jobs,
income, livelihoods and revenue to both state and federal governments. As I outlined
yesterday, the federal Secretary to the Treasury, Dr Steven Kennedy, was very
grateful for the actions of the Western Australian government in ensuring that
the industry remained operational, and —
[Interruption.]
The SPEAKER: Sorry, members; it is not that boring
that I had to wake myself up! Apologies, Premier.
Mr M. McGOWAN: We have ensured that the resources industry
continues to operate. Part of that was also to ensure that FIFO workers
from Melbourne and, particularly, Brisbane, moved to Western Australia before
our hard border went up. The industry, particularly the Chamber of Minerals and
Energy, was very cooperative in ensuring that that took place, which meant that
thousands of FIFO workers and many of their families came to live in Western Australia over this period. They came
over, were in quarantine for two weeks, and then they resumed normal
FIFO work, but from Perth or a regional centre rather than back to Brisbane,
Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide.
The benefits of that are obvious. They have a job in Western Australia
from which they earn an income, and clearly if they move to Western Australia,
that income stays here. That is the benefit. They are not taking someone else's
job, because they already have the job. By getting them to come and live here
and become Western Australians, the income they earn remains in Western Australia.
The industry is not subject to that degree of risk of having staff members who travel interstate on a fortnightly or
three-weekly basis. We can ensure that, firstly, the cost to industry is
lower, because often the flights are funded by industry and, secondly, those
incomes stay within our state.
We have ensured that FIFO workers from interstate are
eligible for our $20 000 grant to build a new home in Western Australia. Many
of them will be eligible for the commonwealth government's $25 000
grant to build a home. That is a $45 000
benefit. We have also been working with the Chamber of Minerals and Energy and
various companies. Thirty different incentives are on offer from
individual employers to get their east coast workforces to move to Western Australia.
BHP has published some of the things it is doing to get its workforce from the
east to come and live in Western Australia.
A range of things that are on offer by the employers include mortgage
assistance, relocation allowances, regional allowances if they move to a
regional town, and sometimes flights back to see family in the east on a biannual
basis. The industry is working with the government to promote these
arrangements for FIFO workers from the east to come and live in Western Australia.
This is an innovative scheme—to my knowledge, it has never been done
before—to ensure that those people come and live here. Many of them
were employed at the height of the boom back in the period from 2007 to 2008,
when companies were searching for workers and obviously secured people from the
east. It is time they came and lived here.
Also, in my meeting with the
resources companies, I have emphasised that the risk posed to their supply
chain by having a workforce from the east, as demonstrated during the COVID
period, means that they should recruit virtually exclusively in Western Australia.
They should recruit in Western Australia and remove that risk to the workforce
should COVID come along again. This is a great once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to get these people to move to Western Australia.
We are working with industry. There are all sorts of things on offer for these
workers to come and live here. Western Australia is obviously the best
place in Australia to live—country or city. I encourage those FIFO
workers from the east to take up this golden opportunity to come and live in
the best state in the world.