The need for a plan for WA jobs was again highlighted this week, with the release of CommSec’s October 2015 quarterly State of the States economic report.

Will the Barnett Government finally fund a plan for WA jobs in this year’s state budget, to be handed down in Parliament on Thursday?  Or will Mr Barnett’s seventh budget represent another missed opportunity to take advantage of the opportunities the mining boom provided to diversify our economy and set us up for the future?

While we welcome the news that our Premier was in India promoting trade, we hope he didn’t sell out Western Australians, as he has in previous negotiations.

We've launched a new video to raise public awareness of the need for a Plan for WA Jobs.

Liberal Senator for WA David Johnston has shown himself to be unfit to continue in his role as Defence Minister by undermining the capabilities of government-owned naval shipbuilder Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC).

From the relative safety of Parliament yesterday, Senator Johnston said he wouldn’t trust ASC to build a canoe. This is the clearest sign yet that the Minister is preparing to award contracts for new naval submarines to overseas shipbuilders.

Western Australian naval shipbuilding workers blockaded Defence Minister Senator David Johnston’s Western Australian electorate office this morning, demanding that the Abbott Government build new naval ships and submarines in Australia – not in Japan.

The Abbott Government is currently evaluating options for the replacement of the navy’s Collins-class fleet of submarines. Despite previously promising to build new vessels in Australia, Senator Johnston is now actively considering offshoring the work.

Media reports indicating the Abbott Government will purchase 12 new submarines from Japan, instead of building them locally, is bad news for Western Australia (WA)’s naval shipbuilding industry.

The naval shipbuilding industry employs hundreds of people locally, and thousands more around Australia. With the Abbott Government looking to Japan to supply new vessels, it is hard to see how the industry will survive.

Colin Barnett’s boast that the construction of his big inner city projects will create tens of thousands of jobs is meaningless, without a concrete plan to ensure contracts are awarded to local firms and jobs do not go interstate or overseas.