Engineering jobs are being filled by overseas workers while Western Australians miss out on work, Shadow Training Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said today.
Ms Ravlich said there was an estimated $140billion worth of projects in the pipeline requiring 47,000 construction jobs and 11,500 permanent jobs.
“While the Premier crows about the benefits of the impending boom, he is happy to see the majority of work go offshore,” she said.
Ms Ravlich said current legislation that stated design work should be done locally did not go far enough to include engineering jobs.
“We have major oil and gas projects being developed in Western Australia yet they are not being designed by Western Australian engineers,” she said.
“Instead, the work is going offshore while we have the appropriate skills right here within the State.
Ms Ravlich said projects coming online were bringing billions of dollars into the Australian economy.
“A majority of the design jobs for WA’s major projects, including the $43billion Gorgon project, are being shipped overseas,” she said.
“In September last year, Labor suggested a Gorgon Project Office be established to help local companies to win contracts to employ local workers.
“It is not good enough for the Barnett Government to leave Western Australian jobs to chance.”
Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia CEO Chris Walton said while work was shipped overseas, the skills of WA engineers were being wasted.
“If work continues to be lost to international workers, our engineers will be out of work too long to retain their skills,” he said.
“There are many Western Australian engineers that are either unemployed, have been forced to early retirement or have been forced to work overseas due to lack of local work.
“We have members in the industry that are unemployed.
“They are furious that engineering work for local projects is going offshore, at a time when local business is booming.”
