❓ Mr. Price questions the Premier on the government's strategy for diversifying WA's economy and leveraging growth opportunities for local manufacturing. The Premier responds by highlighting efforts to revitalize manufacturing, particularly in the rail industry, citing specific investments and contracts secured.
AnsweredQoN 346Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE ECONOMY — DIVERSIFICATION
346. MR S.J. PRICE to the Premier:
I
refer to this Labor government's commitment to diversifying Western Australia's
economy. Can the Premier outline to
the house how this government is leveraging growth opportunities for local
manufacturing and how it will continue to diversify the state's
economy?
346. MR S.J. PRICE to the Premier:
I
refer to this Labor government's commitment to diversifying Western Australia's
economy. Can the Premier outline to
the house how this government is leveraging growth opportunities for local
manufacturing and how it will continue to diversify the state's
economy?
AnswerView source ↗
The Labor government—the
Cook Labor government—is proud about the work that we do on behalf of
the people of Western Australia to diversify our economy and create the jobs of
the future. We have been working tirelessly to rectify one of the great
historical wrongs in our community. I remember as a young fella—I was
born and bred in Western Australia—a
previous government undertook to close down the Midland railway workshops,
destroying thousands of jobs and essentially relegating that great
knowledge and skill set that we had in those great workers to the dustbin of
history. It was an appalling act by a Liberal government back in the 1990s. One
of the things that we are very proud of is that we are correcting a historical
wrong. Bringing back manufacturing and manufacturing jobs to Western Australia
is core to Diversify WA and continuing to create great jobs for local
communities. We made a promise to bring them back. Today I am very proud to say
that we are making great progress in bringing great manufacturing jobs back to Western
Australia.
Late
last week I was at Aurecon's Bellevue factory with the Deputy Premier.
We celebrated the first fully fitted out C-class passenger railcar
coming off the conveyer belt in that particular facility. Once again, we are
bringing jobs back; we are building stuff in
WA—stuff that your mob over there destroyed back in the 1990s. We are
going beyond that. We are using the $15 million local manufacturing
investment fund to assist local manufacturers to lift their capabilities and be competitive in getting great
rail contracts, particularly in our mining and grain handling industries.
I
am very proud to say that we were at Gemco Rail earlier today. It has entered
into a contract with Rio Tinto to build 100 iron ore railcars. We are
starting to build railcars in Western Australia once again. Our $6.9 million
grant to Gemco Rail will enable that company to lift its capability so that it
will not only be able to continue to win contracts such as the very valuable
contract through Rio Tinto, but also have the capability to undertake other
componentry, such as bearings, which means it will be able to bid for lucrative
maintenance contracts for tens of thousands of railcars throughout Western Australia.
Western Australia has a very proud history around the rail industry. We have
thousands of kilometres of rail. Whether we are carting iron ore in the north
or grain across the wheatbelt in the south, we want to make sure that Western Australians
build stuff here and that we manufacture railcars here in Western Australia,
whether it is part of our world-leading Metronet project or our great heavy
haulage industry. We know that we can build things in Western Australia. We are
going to create jobs for the future. We are going to build stuff in WA and we
are going to diversify our economy so we can continue to create great
prosperity for our great state.
Cook Labor government—is proud about the work that we do on behalf of
the people of Western Australia to diversify our economy and create the jobs of
the future. We have been working tirelessly to rectify one of the great
historical wrongs in our community. I remember as a young fella—I was
born and bred in Western Australia—a
previous government undertook to close down the Midland railway workshops,
destroying thousands of jobs and essentially relegating that great
knowledge and skill set that we had in those great workers to the dustbin of
history. It was an appalling act by a Liberal government back in the 1990s. One
of the things that we are very proud of is that we are correcting a historical
wrong. Bringing back manufacturing and manufacturing jobs to Western Australia
is core to Diversify WA and continuing to create great jobs for local
communities. We made a promise to bring them back. Today I am very proud to say
that we are making great progress in bringing great manufacturing jobs back to Western
Australia.
Late
last week I was at Aurecon's Bellevue factory with the Deputy Premier.
We celebrated the first fully fitted out C-class passenger railcar
coming off the conveyer belt in that particular facility. Once again, we are
bringing jobs back; we are building stuff in
WA—stuff that your mob over there destroyed back in the 1990s. We are
going beyond that. We are using the $15 million local manufacturing
investment fund to assist local manufacturers to lift their capabilities and be competitive in getting great
rail contracts, particularly in our mining and grain handling industries.
I
am very proud to say that we were at Gemco Rail earlier today. It has entered
into a contract with Rio Tinto to build 100 iron ore railcars. We are
starting to build railcars in Western Australia once again. Our $6.9 million
grant to Gemco Rail will enable that company to lift its capability so that it
will not only be able to continue to win contracts such as the very valuable
contract through Rio Tinto, but also have the capability to undertake other
componentry, such as bearings, which means it will be able to bid for lucrative
maintenance contracts for tens of thousands of railcars throughout Western Australia.
Western Australia has a very proud history around the rail industry. We have
thousands of kilometres of rail. Whether we are carting iron ore in the north
or grain across the wheatbelt in the south, we want to make sure that Western Australians
build stuff here and that we manufacture railcars here in Western Australia,
whether it is part of our world-leading Metronet project or our great heavy
haulage industry. We know that we can build things in Western Australia. We are
going to create jobs for the future. We are going to build stuff in WA and we
are going to diversify our economy so we can continue to create great
prosperity for our great state.
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