Today’s commitment by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to create more jobs by removing regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to business investment is welcome news for Western Australia’s resources sector and the State’s economy.
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA’s Chief Executive Paul Everingham said given the sector was the State’s third biggest revenue stream, accounting for 23 per cent of State revenue in 2019-20, it made sense to cut excessive and outdated regulation that was hampering major projects from getting off the ground.
“The only way to create more jobs is to increase the levels of investment in our economy, but when there are significant and excessive roadblocks in the way, in the form of taxes and regulations, companies will simply do business elsewhere and that costs the WA economy significantly,” he said.
“By pledging to work with the resources sector by removing obstacles to business investment, the Government is facilitating the flow of billions of dollars in royalties into the economy, and eventually back into the community to build vital public infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
“In fact, a survey conducted by CME this year which sampled just 41 of our member operations in WA revealed a staggering $14.8 billion was given to the State and Federal Government in 2017-18, out of a total $57.7 billion in direct economic contribution made by the sector.”
Mr Everingham said CME looked forward to working with Ben Morton, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, who has been tasked with developing an action plan to target barriers to investment in key industries and activities.
