Mark Morey: It’s time for Melinda Pavey to own up to the porkies

IT’S hard to fathom more warped priorities than the NSW government insisting foreign workers perform jobs funded by local taxpayers, writes Mark Morey.

IT’S hard to fathom more warped priorities than the NSW government insisting foreign workers perform jobs funded by local taxpayers.

But as this paper revealed on its Friday front page, that’s exactly what Roads and Maritime Services has done. At the behest of Roads Minister Melinda Pavey, seven companies bidding for a $100 million IT contract were told they must employ at least 30 per cent of their workforce from cut-price overseas locations.

All credit to The Daily Telegraph for its dogged pursuit of a story the NSW government hoped to keep under wraps. It’s fair to say I don’t always see eye-to-eye with Miranda Devine. But I think we are a unity ticket on this catastrophic screw-up.

Minister Pavey has denied the story. But there’s a slight problem with that ­denial.

The call to deliver “development, testing, maintenance and service management for transport-related software applications and in-the-field hardware” by foreign workers was made to a packed meeting, convened by RMS on February 13.

Secretary of Unions NSW Mark Morey. Picture: Supplied

This was attended by 25 people with a further 18 people phoning in. It included three Indian firms — Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Tech Mahindra — along with Fujitsu, Datacom, Accenture and itree.

It’s time for the minister to own up to the porkies. Failing that, the premier needs to stand her down.

But this is also about more than one minister. The Berejiklian government consistently fails to use its public spending to favour Australian workers. In February, 161 workers at Custom Bus in Villawood lost their jobs when the NSW government awarded a contract to build 38 double-decker B-line buses to a Malaysian firm. The NSW government also sent 1200 jobs to South Korea and China when it spent $2.3 billion for its intercity fleet and $1.7 billion on Waratah replacements.

And if it’s ever finished, the Eastern Suburbs Light Rail line will consist of French trams running on Spanish tracks. The forgone jobs are bad enough but, as we have seen, foreign firms lack local knowledge and are more difficult to bring to heel. Light rail contractor Acciona was seemingly unaware of the complexities and expense of moving underground utilities. It responded to these problems by suing us, the taxpayers of NSW.

NSW Minister for Roads Melinda Pavey. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Now we have the unedifying spectacle of a NSW government department actually insisting on the use of foreign workers.

Whether it’s in IT, manufacturing or any other industry, if a government fails to back its own industry there is a contagion effect. If our own government doesn’t spend locally, why would anyone else?

And while there may be short-term cost benefits by engaging in a race to the bottom, over the longer term we gut our industries, losing scale and expertise.

We also miss out on all multiplier benefit of government spending in our own communities. It’s not like they couldn’t use the support. The unemployment rate in greater southwestern Sydney, for example, is almost triple the eastern suburbs. In regions such as Coffs Harbour or Albury, it is worse again.

So here’s an idea for Minister Pavey. Flip your policy on the head. Rather than mandating the use of foreign workers, put people in NSW first and insist our taxes are spent supporting jobs in our state in the first instance.

Mark Morey is secretary of Unions NSW.

Originally published as Mark Morey: It’s time for Melinda Pavey to own up to the porkies