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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 54 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 6 May 2021 by Ms A.E. Kent

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

ABORIGINAL BUSINESSES — PROCUREMENT

54. Ms A.E. KENT to the Minister for Finance:

I refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to supporting businesses and creating employment opportunities across Western Australia, particularly in the Aboriginal business sector. Can the minister update the house on the outcomes of the McGowan Labor government's Aboriginal procurement policy and outline what additional steps the government is taking to strengthen this policy even further?

Dr A.D. BUTI replied:

Congratulations, member for Kalgoorlie, on your election to this chamber and your inaugural speech this morning. I very much look forward to working with you.

It is interesting that the member asked me this question, because the last time this matter was brought before the house to the previous Minister for Finance, I was actually asking the question. It is good to be the minister responding to a question on the Aboriginal procurement policy, which we established in 2018 in our first term of government. It is an incredibly impressive and important policy. It was designed to ensure that Aboriginal businesses across Western Australia, in the regions and the city, would have access to the significant spend by government. We started off with a pretty modest target of one per cent for 2018–19, then two per cent in the following year and up to three per cent in 2020–21. I can tell the member that last year we far exceeded that target, with 5.5 per cent of all government contracts awarded to Aboriginal-owned businesses in Western Australia. I think that is an outstanding achievement and it shows that this policy has been used very well and is achieving more than we initially thought.

In the first two years of this policy, the WA government awarded more than 413 contracts worth more than $339 million to Aboriginal businesses across the state, and 61 per cent of those contracts were awarded to Aboriginal businesses in the regions. I am sure the Nationals WA members will be very pleased with that and would applaud our decision to instigate this policy. In the last two years, 137 contracts were awarded to Aboriginal businesses in the Kimberley region. I very much look forward to working with the new member for Kimberley and progressing this matter further.

We all know that Aboriginal-owned businesses generally employ Aboriginal people, so obviously this will be a great opportunity to ensure that we can improve outcomes for Aboriginal people in Western Australia. I am very pleased with the progress we have made on this policy. The Department of Finance is working with the Aboriginal business sector and government departments and agencies to explore further opportunities and to ensure that we provide positive outcomes. Many departments and agencies have been very, very good on this. Obviously, we need to work with some agencies to improve their target outcomes. I invite and encourage all members of this house to see whether there are any Aboriginal businesses established and operating in their electorates, and to encourage them to apply or to tender for government contracts. The message we want to send to the Aboriginal business community is quite clear: we are here to do business with you and we want to work with you.