Media Release

THE major parties have once again joined forces to vote against giving Aussie industries a fairer go in competing against foreign corporations, under new laws aimed at empowering local suppliers to tender for major construction projects in their region, said KAP Federal Leader and Member for Kennedy Bob Katter.

Mr Katter was among only three Members of Parliament to vote for a halving of a $500m threshold, the worth of private and public major projects at which local suppliers and contractors must be prioritised, under legislation passed by Parliament last night.

Mr Katter said the Australian Jobs Bill 2013 was “good in principle” – but added that the major parties should be ashamed for denying Australian suppliers and contractors a bigger slice of the pie.

“The volume of $500 million projects is few and far in-between. There several times as many projects worth $250 million and above, which means there would have been several times more opportunity for local suppliers to make some money out of these chunky projects,” he warned the House of Representatives last night.

Mr Katter said that the current major project tendering procurement process was flawed and did not focus on engaging Australian suppliers or creating jobs.
“You would have to be blind and deaf not to know that Australian companies are just not getting a look in at the moment,” he said.

“In some cases, the tendering process is not really a tendering process at all. All of the jobs have been stitched up and all the tendering has been done long before the action comes down.

“All the big contractors from down south now complain that they are not getting any work because of the big contractors from overseas. And of course these international contractors fly in workers for the delivery of the project.

“In Western Australia they tell me that a whole mining processing plant will come in from overseas (to then be) bolted together. So the steel comes from overseas, the work is done overseas, (and) all we get is laying a concrete foundation… and that will typically be contractors bringing in 457 workers to do the work and then fly back out again, leaving behind no benefit behind for our communities in Australia.”

Mr Katter said while the new laws would provide a “tiny bit of light of opportunity” for regional businesses that have had no work due to projects being awarded to major southern or overseas contractors, the Bill would not completely solve the problems faced by Australian businesses wanting to tender for major contracts.

“However it at least gives an Australian company and an Australian contractor or subcontractor the right to put his name forward,” he concluded.