Victoria Leading The Nation With More Local Jobs

The Andrews Labor Government is leading the nation in support for local jobs and industry according to new data in the Victorian Industry Participation Policy Annual Report 2015/16.

The number of strategic projects more than tripled over the last financial year, with minimum local content requirements set for 22 major projects.

$5.4 billion worth of procurement will support over 5,556 local jobs and 510 local apprentices and trainees.

The Labor Government’s industry participation policy Local Jobs First sets local content requirements for strategic projects over $50 million.

There have already been more than 30 projects with mandated local content requirements under this Labor Government, compared to only eight projects over four years under the previous Liberal Government.

The pipeline of major projects have a combined value of $16 billion, supporting 10,600 current and new jobs.

A number of the projects also have additional requirements to support local steel, including the Level Crossing Removal Project which has a mandated requirement to use 100 per cent locally milled steel.

The Labor Government recently announced reforms to further boost the opportunities for local businesses and Victorian jobs.

We’ve halved the threshold level for strategic projects to $50 million and introduced a new formal 10 per cent local content weighting for small contracts valued over $1 million in regional Victoria, or $3 million for state-wide contracts.

The annual report is available at http://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/victorian-industry-participation-policy

Quotes attributable to Minister for Industry and Employment Wade Noonan

“The Government is the largest procurer of goods, services and construction works in Victoria – this report shows that we are using our purchasing power to put local jobs and local businesses first.”

“While the previous Liberal Government sent jobs overseas, we are proud to be creating new jobs and supporting local industry as we remove level crossings, build roads, schools and hospitals.”