❓ Opposition questions the Premier's 2017 decision to reduce skilled migration, citing current skills shortages. The Premier defends the decision based on the economic conditions at the time and accuses the Liberal party of being obstructionist.
AnsweredQoN 176Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SKILLED MIGRATION
176. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I refer to one of the Premier's
first decisions as Premier to slash the skilled migration list and remove Perth
as a region for the regional sponsored migration scheme, and his subsequent
boast at the time —
No longer can overseas workers be
fast-tracked into bricklaying, tiling or electrician jobs.
Given the impact of this decision,
which saw skilled migration fall by 51 per cent in the first three years of his
government —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Ms L. METTAM : Shall I start
again?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : I am guessing
that most of you do not want to hear the question from the start again, but
that is where we will end up having to go. It seems that everyone else is very
keen to answer the question; it is a question to
the Premier. Member, you can start from the beginning, you can start halfway
through—wherever you think is relevant.
Ms L. METTAM : I will start
from the quote —
No longer can overseas workers be
fast-tracked into bricklaying, tiling or electrician jobs.
Given the impact of this decision,
which saw skilled migration fall by 51 per cent in the first three years of his
government, does the Premier still believe this was the correct policy given
the massive skills shortages we are now experiencing across the state?
176. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I refer to one of the Premier's
first decisions as Premier to slash the skilled migration list and remove Perth
as a region for the regional sponsored migration scheme, and his subsequent
boast at the time —
No longer can overseas workers be
fast-tracked into bricklaying, tiling or electrician jobs.
Given the impact of this decision,
which saw skilled migration fall by 51 per cent in the first three years of his
government —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Ms L. METTAM : Shall I start
again?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : I am guessing
that most of you do not want to hear the question from the start again, but
that is where we will end up having to go. It seems that everyone else is very
keen to answer the question; it is a question to
the Premier. Member, you can start from the beginning, you can start halfway
through—wherever you think is relevant.
Ms L. METTAM : I will start
from the quote —
No longer can overseas workers be
fast-tracked into bricklaying, tiling or electrician jobs.
Given the impact of this decision,
which saw skilled migration fall by 51 per cent in the first three years of his
government, does the Premier still believe this was the correct policy given
the massive skills shortages we are now experiencing across the state?
AnswerView source ↗
I am very pleased to answer that
question. We can understand that it is now 2023. Back in March 2017, when this
government took office, we inherited an economy that was in recession. It was
actually in recession. We had an unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent. I cannot
remember the exact numbers, but the best part of 200 000 or so Western Australians were out of work. That was the
situation we inherited from the former government. We had a set of finances in which debt was climbing to $44 billion
across the forward estimates. The former government inherited debt at
$3.6 billion when it arrived in office. We had a situation in which particular
tradespeople, and a whole range of occupations, did not have enough work. There
were not enough jobs out there for Western Australians. That was the situation
that we inherited when we arrived in office.
That is one of the reasons the
former government lost office, because the Liberal Party cannot manage finances and cannot manage an economy these days. That
is now beyond the Liberal Party. Every time we do something to promote
economic activity, it opposes it. That is now the reality of the modern Liberal
Party. The modern Liberal Party is just a group of people who oppose what Labor
does. That is all they do. That is all they are now. There is nothing else to
them—just oppose what Labor does. It is a strange philosophy to just
oppose whatever someone else does. As I said
yesterday, Hon Peter Collier is now taking the side of rioting people who
assault people , and because they are
against the government, he is on their side. That is the way the Liberal Party
acts. It is in cahoots with the Nationals WA that basically has no
respect for public finances and basically hates the Liberal Party, in my
experience, and the Liberal Party hates the National Party. They actually hate
each other more than they hate us, but for some reason they are in an alliance
with each other! It is an unusual phenomenon.
I must say, I have talked to other
Premiers and other leaders of political parties in the eastern states who are
of your persuasion and they confirm that. It
is a very unusual thing how the whole model of conservative politics works these days. That was the situation we
inherited. What did we do? We took action. Then what happened? Job creation happened and we started reducing the unemployment rate and our public finances
improved. Then COVID came along, obviously,
which was two and a half or the best part of three years of the most unusual
economic circumstances I think the
world has seen since the Great Depression, really. We had to manage that. What
did we do along the way ? We amended the initial policy we took because
circumstances changed. What did John Maynard Keynes say? It was words to the
effect of, ''When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do,
sir?''
question. We can understand that it is now 2023. Back in March 2017, when this
government took office, we inherited an economy that was in recession. It was
actually in recession. We had an unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent. I cannot
remember the exact numbers, but the best part of 200 000 or so Western Australians were out of work. That was the
situation we inherited from the former government. We had a set of finances in which debt was climbing to $44 billion
across the forward estimates. The former government inherited debt at
$3.6 billion when it arrived in office. We had a situation in which particular
tradespeople, and a whole range of occupations, did not have enough work. There
were not enough jobs out there for Western Australians. That was the situation
that we inherited when we arrived in office.
That is one of the reasons the
former government lost office, because the Liberal Party cannot manage finances and cannot manage an economy these days. That
is now beyond the Liberal Party. Every time we do something to promote
economic activity, it opposes it. That is now the reality of the modern Liberal
Party. The modern Liberal Party is just a group of people who oppose what Labor
does. That is all they do. That is all they are now. There is nothing else to
them—just oppose what Labor does. It is a strange philosophy to just
oppose whatever someone else does. As I said
yesterday, Hon Peter Collier is now taking the side of rioting people who
assault people , and because they are
against the government, he is on their side. That is the way the Liberal Party
acts. It is in cahoots with the Nationals WA that basically has no
respect for public finances and basically hates the Liberal Party, in my
experience, and the Liberal Party hates the National Party. They actually hate
each other more than they hate us, but for some reason they are in an alliance
with each other! It is an unusual phenomenon.
I must say, I have talked to other
Premiers and other leaders of political parties in the eastern states who are
of your persuasion and they confirm that. It
is a very unusual thing how the whole model of conservative politics works these days. That was the situation we
inherited. What did we do? We took action. Then what happened? Job creation happened and we started reducing the unemployment rate and our public finances
improved. Then COVID came along, obviously,
which was two and a half or the best part of three years of the most unusual
economic circumstances I think the
world has seen since the Great Depression, really. We had to manage that. What
did we do along the way ? We amended the initial policy we took because
circumstances changed. What did John Maynard Keynes say? It was words to the
effect of, ''When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do,
sir?''
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