Mr DUNHAM - 2003-10-15
In the documents used to secure the sale of land at Wickham Point, what undertakings did ConocoPhillips give in relation to employing Territorians and using local contractors and suppliers? Were there minimum percentage figures set down in relation to jobs and local contracts in these documents and, if so, what were they?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, the commitment made by ConocoPhillips regarding their obligations to Territorians for this project was to maximise Territory employment and local industry participation through the construction of a local industry participation plan. There is no definitive number of exactly how many Territorians, or what value of contracts were to be mandated for the Northern Territory. In exactly the same way, with the railway contract signed by the previous government, there was no stated figure of the number of Territorians to be employed on that project, or a specific value on the total amount of contracts to be awarded to Territory companies. The issues of achieving maximisation of jobs for Territorians and contracts for Territory companies, are one, skills and the other, capacity.
What we are engaged in at the moment is working with ConocoPhillips on the civil side. As I have said, through the process the government has in place with the NTISO, $230m worth of contracts have been let to companies including Thiess, Sunbuilt, Atco, Fleetwood, Patricks, Wagners and Panalpina. Of those contracts awarded, 73% of the workers onsite are locals.
However, the number of locals on that particular site is going to reduce as a percentage during the phase where the very highly skilled jobs are going to be required for the construction phase; skills that do not exist in our economy because we have not had the need for those before. We are working with the Charles Darwin University and ConocoPhillips to identify those skills deficits and the people in the community who can upgrade those skills, and those courses are being employed at the university at the moment.
Therefore, in the same way that the railway did not mandate a specific number of jobs or a specific value to the contracts, it is the same way with this …
Mr Dunham: We are talking about the land sale documents.
Mr HENDERSON: The honourable member is talking out of his hat. There is absolutely no capacity for the government to say: ‘Of the 1300 jobs on this project, we want 127 of them to go to Territorians’. It does not work like that because of the very specific nature of the skills required for this particular project. To continue to attack the motives of ConocoPhillips and Bechtel regarding their public commitments that they have made time and time again at forums - which I do not know if the member for Drysdale has been to, but other members opposite have - to maximise employment for Territorians, absolutely does not stand them in any good stead with those companies at all.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, the commitment made by ConocoPhillips regarding their obligations to Territorians for this project was to maximise Territory employment and local industry participation through the construction of a local industry participation plan. There is no definitive number of exactly how many Territorians, or what value of contracts were to be mandated for the Northern Territory. In exactly the same way, with the railway contract signed by the previous government, there was no stated figure of the number of Territorians to be employed on that project, or a specific value on the total amount of contracts to be awarded to Territory companies. The issues of achieving maximisation of jobs for Territorians and contracts for Territory companies, are one, skills and the other, capacity.
What we are engaged in at the moment is working with ConocoPhillips on the civil side. As I have said, through the process the government has in place with the NTISO, $230m worth of contracts have been let to companies including Thiess, Sunbuilt, Atco, Fleetwood, Patricks, Wagners and Panalpina. Of those contracts awarded, 73% of the workers onsite are locals.
However, the number of locals on that particular site is going to reduce as a percentage during the phase where the very highly skilled jobs are going to be required for the construction phase; skills that do not exist in our economy because we have not had the need for those before. We are working with the Charles Darwin University and ConocoPhillips to identify those skills deficits and the people in the community who can upgrade those skills, and those courses are being employed at the university at the moment.
Therefore, in the same way that the railway did not mandate a specific number of jobs or a specific value to the contracts, it is the same way with this …
Mr Dunham: We are talking about the land sale documents.
Mr HENDERSON: The honourable member is talking out of his hat. There is absolutely no capacity for the government to say: ‘Of the 1300 jobs on this project, we want 127 of them to go to Territorians’. It does not work like that because of the very specific nature of the skills required for this particular project. To continue to attack the motives of ConocoPhillips and Bechtel regarding their public commitments that they have made time and time again at forums - which I do not know if the member for Drysdale has been to, but other members opposite have - to maximise employment for Territorians, absolutely does not stand them in any good stead with those companies at all.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016