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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 353 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 5 August 2021 by Mr M. Hughes

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

STATE ECONOMY — INVESTMENT

353. Mr M. HUGHES to the Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade:

I refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to diversifying the Western Australian economy.

(1) Can the minister update the house on how this government is promoting Western Australia to overseas markets and ensuring that our state remains the preferred jurisdiction for both domestic and international investment?

(2) Can the minister outline to the house how this is supporting local businesses and local jobs?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

(1)–(2) I would like to thank the member for the question; it is an important one and he knows how important diversifying our economy is to the people of Western Australia. As we know, Western Australia is a great place to live, work and raise a family. It is also a great place to do business, and more and more investors and companies across the country, as well as internationally, are coming to realise this important fact. As the global pandemic continues, it is clear that the government's efforts to keep the state safe and strong are being rewarded with further investment interest in this safe haven of Western Australia. To appropriately manage this demand, Invest and Trade Western Australia was established in 2019 as a division of the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation, delivering on a key election commitment by the McGowan government, to establish a refreshed and comprehensive approach to attracting investment, growth and trade to our state, which helps to diversify the economy and create jobs. Investment and Trade WA provides a front door to investors from both overseas and interstate that are interested in doing business in WA. It provides a range of information and support services to small and medium Western Australian enterprises that want assistance to reach their export potential. It includes the development of a dedicated website to showcase Western Australia's unique attributes and emerging opportunities.

Despite the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Western Australia has experienced strong business investment since 2019. In 2020, the value of Western Australia's business investment rose by 8.3 per cent to $39.6 billion. This was spearheaded by the resources sector, including Covalent Lithium's $1 million Mt Holland lithium project and new gas developments by Mitsui–Beach and Strike Energy. There are other measures, too. For example, the WA recovery plan provided funding of up to $14.9 million to support investment in call centres and back-of-office processing services in WA, incentivising business and creating local jobs. As a result of that program, the government has successfully attracted investment from New Zealand's Datacom, as well as Oracle CMS and WA's TSA Group relocating some of the Victorian staff back to Perth.

The economic successes will not come without challenges. Of course, as the Premier has mentioned, all cabinet ministers attended the skills summit last Friday. It was a tremendous success and demonstrated that this government is prepared to work with industry and business to make sure that we realise our collective potential. The Premier has already outlined a range of incentives, opportunities and programs to try to create the workforce that our businesses will need to drive the economy further. Not only are we proud of our health response to COVID-19, but also our economic response to COVID-19 will create great opportunities for WA businesses going forward.