ABORIGINAL BUSINESSES —
PROCUREMENT
879. Dr
A.D. BUTI to the Minister for Finance:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to supporting Western Australian businesses as
the economy recovers from the impacts of COVID-19.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on how the government's Aboriginal
procurement policy is helping support Aboriginal businesses across the state?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how this policy is delivering great economic
benefits to not only Aboriginal businesses, but also the broader Aboriginal
community?
Mr B.S.
WYATT replied:
(1)–(2) I thank the member for Armadale for that very good
question in NAIDOC Week. Over the years, there have been a range of attempts by
governments to have a policy that prioritised contracts to Aboriginal-owned businesses,
and for various reasons they have not been successful. This policy that we took
to the 2017 election is now very much delivering exactly what we want it to do,
and that is to deliver a continuous supply
of contracts for work to Aboriginal-owned businesses. We know that an
Aboriginal-owned business is much more likely to employ and keep an
Aboriginal person than any other. As we know, member for Armadale, there was a graduated
increase in the percentage of total contracts to go to Aboriginal-owned businesses, and for 2019–20, the target
was two per cent of contracts. I am pleased to say that in 2019–20,
we came in at 5.5 per cent. That works out
to be an additional 234 contracts being awarded to 106 Aboriginal
businesses and a further $172 million in value going into those businesses. I am
very pleased to see the diversity of those businesses, ranging from
construction and maintenance, residential and non-residential construction
servicing, cleaning, management advisory services, human resources services and
education services across the full spectrum
of areas in which the government provides services. Importantly, regional
Aboriginal businesses represented about 60 per cent of those 234 contracts,
valued at around $69 million in the regions. Since the introduction of the
policy in 2018, the government has awarded a total of 413 contracts to
Aboriginal businesses at a value of nearly $350 million. This policy has been
incredibly successful.
The 2020–21 target is of
course three per cent, so we go up another per cent. Although that 5.5 per cent
suggests that the government as an entire
body is doing very well, there are government agencies that need to do
better. Government trading enterprises have done very well and have been very
creative in how they have gone about engaging
Aboriginal businesses, but I think the key to that success is the transparency
of the report back on regions and agencies that are doing well and those
that perhaps need a bit more support to
ensure we can continue to be successful. As I said, consecutive governments
have not quite nailed a policy that
has delivered a ready and reliable supply of contracts to Aboriginal
businesses, but now this is working very, very well. As a result, we are
seeing Aboriginal businesses employing more people and growing, which is
exactly the intent of this policy.