Fairer go for local workers, vows ALP

Labor has fired a pre-election shot at multinationals, vowing to put more projects into the hands of local companies and workers.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in Queensland last week. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten has fired a pre-­election shot at multinationals by vowing to force more infrastructure projects into the hands of Australian companies and workers, in a union-friendly move that will escalate his assault on big business.

The Opposition Leader will today announce that a future Labor government would require more public and private projects to put locals at the heart of their procurement processes.

Under Labor’s “local jobs, local projects” policy, companies competing for public projects worth more than $10 million and private projects worth more than $250m will have to submit plans showing how they will give Australian industry a “full, fair and reasonable opportunity” to win procurement work.

This halves the current threshold of $20m for public projects and $500m for private ones, aiming to create more Australian jobs in privately funded mines, quarries, factories, airports and energy projects. For public projects, companies will have to submit their Australian Industry Participation plan during the tender process.

Companies bidding for public projects worth more than $10m would need to submit plans showing how they would support jobs in the region. Bidders that win government work would nominate an employee who would engage with local businesses and advise them of tender and subcontracting opportunities.

Mr Shorten said local companies and workers should be favoured in government projects over “multinationals that don’t care about locals and don’t pay tax in Australia”.

“Locals are locked out of work as multinationals bring in their own suppliers,” Mr Shorten said.

“Labor believes that if local small and medium businesses can do the job competitively, then the job should be done locally.

“If bidders on large government contracts can’t show how they’ll support competitive local business and local jobs, then they shouldn’t be getting contracts.

“It’s simple — no local jobs, no contract.

“Local companies — those based in the town, city and region where the government is spending funds — should get better ­access to contracts so they can employ local people.”

Opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr said there would be stronger oversight of labour market testing to ensure that companies were not importing foreign workers when local workers were available.

He said Labor would bolster the funding of the Australian Industry Participation Authority, saying it had been “run down” by the Coalition government. He said the agency only had one employee, making it unable to effectively enforce procurement rules.

“The government has let this run down so it is an empty shell,” Senator Carr said.

“We have said we will have a series of supplier advocates to help local businesses get contracts. We have said we would lift the anti-dumping regime so that Australian businesses don’t get ripped off when facing inter­national competition.

“We want people to be able to compete but to compete fairly and get a fair go.”

Labor’s policy will encompass its commitment to require one in 10 workers on major projects to be apprentices, scrapping upfront TAFE fees for 100,000 students and establishing a $100m TAFE future fund.

Mr Shorten last week accused major companies such as BHP of jeopardising national security by moving away from Australian-flagged and crewed cargo vessels.

“Why does corporate Aus­tralia, the big end of town, think that the next quarter’s profits are more important than our environment, more important than Australian jobs, and more important than Australian national security?” Mr Shorten said.