Yet again it’s been an extremely busy month for the WA mining and resources sector, with jobs and skills naturally front of mind given everything that is happening on the national agenda.
Ahead of the Federal Government’s Jobs and Skills Summit, CME participated in a variety of regional roundtables focused on skills challenges and what can potentially be done to address the situation. A CME delegation consisting of myself and Acting Director of Policy and Advocacy, Adrienne LaBombard, also travelled to Canberra in the week leading up to the Summit and met with a variety of Ministers and government officials to discuss a range of issues, with jobs, skills and migration high among them.
It’s been encouraging to hear about the support for our sector among attendees at the Summit – including the strong backing of WA Premier Mark McGowan – and the alignment from a broad cross-section of them on the concrete actions required. In many respects, the measures taken by the WA mining and resources industry through the initial operating constraints and labour shortages caused by COVID-19 established the responses now being elevated across the broader national economy. CME has made a submission to the Department of Treasury outlining in detail the market conditions and future opportunities for our sector in WA, the steps member companies are already taking to combat labour shortages and changes we’d like to see made to policy settings, particularly in relation to sustained increases in skilled and semi-skilled migration.
As you’ll read in the rest of this newsletter, the CME team was very busy in August and the early part of September, with a number of regional council meetings held, the annual Net Zero Emission Mining Conference in Perth (alongside consultation on proposed reforms to the regulation of greenhouse gas), the second round of co-design of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage regulations winding up, our Economic Contribution Factsheet survey going live and the CME content team visiting Yara’s facilities in Karratha.
It was also excellent to see one of our 2022 Women In Resources Awards winners, Elle Farris from Newmont, recognised as the Outstanding Young Woman at the Women In Resources National Awards.
There has been a new face welcomed into the CME office over the past week or so – our incoming Chief Executive Officer, Rebecca Tomkinson. Rebecca officially started transitioning into the role at the end of August and she’s already been busy catching up with members and stakeholders and getting up to speed on priority issues and opportunities. Having got to know Rebecca over the past few months, I can confidently say the CME team and the future of the sector overall are in very capable hands.
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the membership for their support over the past nearly four years as I prepare to finish up at CME today. It’s been a privilege to be part of the wonderful CME team and to be able to represent what is in my opinion the best mining and resources province in the world. I’m remaining in the sector I love in a new corporate affairs role, so I’m sure I’ll be catching up with many of you again in the near future.
Perhaps I’ll even see a few of you on the road later this month…my final appearance in CME ‘colours’ will be from September 24 when I again hit the road for the Perth-Laverton Cycling Classic. This brilliant event provides funding for very important cycling and mentoring programs in the Northern Goldfields – to find out more about how you can support the ride and sponsor a team, visit the website.
