STATE ECONOMY — MIGRATION
460. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's efforts in delivering one of the strongest economies in
the world. Can the Premier outline to the
house how the government is working to attract more skilled workers to Western Australia
and meet the needs of industry?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
I thank the member for the
question.
Western Australia has one of the
strongest, if not the strongest, economies in the world. We have had strong
management of the pandemic and avoided the long lockdowns that were experienced
in other states and countries around the world. That is one of the things that
has contributed to the extraordinary economic performance of Western Australia
over the course of the last few years.
Australian Bureau of Statistics
data released last month showed a record level of interstate migration into Western Australia between 2020 and 2021. We saw net
interstate migration of 11 423 people. In comparison, New South Wales
lost over 50 000 residents and Victoria lost over 30 000 residents. The two
states that have had significant interstate migration into them were Western Australia
and Queensland. In the final months of 2021, we had our largest ever quarterly interstate migration inflow into Western Australia.
That is a sign of Western Australia's success over the course of
the last few years—in fact, over the course of this government being in
office.
On
top of that, we recently analysed the cost of living differences between Western
Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. That showed that
the cost of living in Western Australia is significantly lower, particularly
the cost of housing. If people are on an average or below average income, or
even an above average income, the cost of
buying a house in Western Australia is less than half the cost in New South
Wales. There are huge advantages in moving to Western Australia, plus
very high, by national standards, average yearly earnings.
Last
month, we launched a new skilled migrant employment register to attract workers
to key industries. It allows employers to connect with skilled migrants,
easily see the pipeline of potential new workers, and support skilled migrants
settling in Western Australia. It also allows migrants to indicate where they
prefer to work in Western Australia, and what their skills and desires are. We
have also added six more building and construction occupations to the Western Australian
skilled migration occupation list. This includes building and engineering
technicians, surveyors, roof tilers, project builders and building inspectors.
We are advocating strongly to allow for more of these people to come to Western
Australia during our time of need.
On top of that, we are investing
more in TAFE. I recall that under the last government, TAFE fees were increased
by up to 500 per cent in a whole range of courses, and that priced it out of
reach of many ordinary families across Western Australia. We have dropped fees
significantly for over 130 or so TAFE courses, some by more than 70 per cent. That has seen, between May 2020 and
May 2022, building and construction apprenticeship commencements
increasing by more than 150 per cent, while electrical apprenticeship
commencements have nearly doubled. We are doing everything we can to ensure
that Western Australians can take advantage of the extraordinary economic
performance of our state.
Visitors — Osborne
Park RSL
The
SPEAKER: I acknowledge in my gallery some guests of the member for
Balcatta from Osborne Park RSL.