Made in WA plan
Extract from Hansard
[COUNCIL — Thursday, 10 April 2025]
p21 - 174
Hon Stephen Dawson; Hon Peter Foster; Hon Lorna Harper; Hon Louise Kingston; Hon Ayor Makur Chuot; Hon Shelley Payne; Hon Steve Thomas
Hon Dr Steve Thomas (South West Region) (11:38 am): It is always hard to tell how seriously to take some of these debates on a Thursday morning. Of course, I take them very seriously. I have been trying to find a descriptor word for the government, and I settled on "aspirational"—not inspirational, because that would mean something completely different, but aspirational. It is a group of "gonnas" for the most part—an aspirational government. The Made in WA slogan is a very good three-word slogan, similar to "Stop the Boats" and all those other things. I understand that three-word slogans have been relatively successful. But when we get to the detail of what is going on, what exactly is the government talking about? I think I have a copy of the same Made in WA document that members opposite have been waving around. It states:
We will boost our manufacturing sector and make more things in WA, including:
Household and Industrial Batteries
Vanadium Batteries
Transmission Towers and Energy Infrastructure
Housing Innovation Manufacturing
Wind Turbines
METRONET Trains
METRONET on Swan Ferries
Electric Buses
Iron Ore Rail Cars
It is good to be aspirational. If a government cannot be inspirational, it might as well be aspirational. Well done to the government. I am sure the minister will tell us that they are all impending. I like a bit of aspiration.
What exactly are we aspiring to do? For example, let us look at a couple of issues. We have to love the Metronet trains. Yes, the government reopened the construction sector to build the Metronet trains but Metronet trains are not being manufactured in WA. Prefabricated metal is being imported, and it is then bolted together. We are not yet manufacturing trains in Western Australia. It is good to be aspirational. I am not here to attack the Premier, but I think he has got a bit bogged down in the house that shall not be named because it is not all about assembly; it has to be a bit about manufacture if it is a manufacturing policy. When the government says that it is manufacturing railcars, people seem to think that it is manufacturing the actual railcars but it is actually bringing in prefabricated materials. Those who are old enough—I am not casting any aspersions; I am already in trouble for age jokes this morning—might remember the kit home ads from many years ago, when a mate and I could put up homes with a spanner. As I said, members who are old enough can remember, though I am not casting any aspersions.
Hon Martin Pritchard interjected.
Hon Dr Steve Thomas: Thank you, Hon Martin Pritchard; I appreciate it.
That is what is going on. We are assembling goods in Western Australia, not manufacturing them in WA. As I said, I have no problem with the government being aspirational and ambitious but it would be good if it had a more honest conversation about what it is actually delivering. I can tell the government that, for the most part, it is still importing stuff. There is a lot that we could run through.
When we talk about wind turbines, at this point it is aspirational. Wind towers are aspirational. The turbines themselves come in on ships and are then put on massive great long trucks. Half of them are driven through Collie and other places at the moment, ending up where they are going to be assembled. They are not manufactured here. They are not likely to be manufactured here in the near future. But sure, let us be aspirational. Let us not attack the government—"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him". Let us see how we go. There are a few other products in that same category, such as iron ore railcars.
Interestingly, I went to the Rio Tinto awards for contractors last week. It was very good event. I could recommend it to everybody. One of the winners was a company that is actually doing a lot of prefabricating for the iron ore railcars. The railcars come into Western Australia already fabricated and manufactured, and hopefully a reasonable number of them will be assembled over time. That is what is going on.
Another product—vanadium batteries—is also interesting to talk about. I say to the minister that I actually support the announcement to build a vanadium battery in Kalgoorlie. It may help with the disasters at Kalgoorlie if the upgrade of the backup gas systems are not in place and the deal with TransAlta is not formalised. A vanadium battery would be one more string to the government's bow. It wants to use local vanadium, which I think is an excellent idea. It is an aspirational government; it wants to use local vanadium. That is great. How many vanadium mines do members think are producing vanadium at the moment? How many companies are downstream processing? How many companies can put together a battery completely from Western Australian materials? None of that capacity exists. If a vanadium battery is going to be built in Kalgoorlie in the short term, I think that is a great idea. It is somewhat experimental. We are still working on it, but it will not happen for years.
When the power went out a year ago and the Labor Party had done nothing in the two previous years to keep the lights on in Kalgoorlie—
Hon Neil Thomson:
Hon Dr Steve Thomas: Yes, it cost millions of dollars, and the government got a good swift kick. Building this battery might assist the process, but it will not be delivered as being manufactured in Western Australia. The lead-in time is three to five years. The government will certainly not deliver it in this term of government. It is an aspirational goal to deliver a lithium battery, which I support. It is a $150 million investment. We somehow have to build the vanadium industry. We have had debates about this before. I forget which members spoke about it. From memory, it might have been Hon Sandra Carr or Hon Shelley Payne who were talking up the vanadium industry a couple of years ago. We were all in mass agreement that this industry might develop. It is not an industry yet.
Interestingly, we both took policies to the election to reduce vanadium royalties, not that any are effectively being paid at the moment. The Liberal Party policy that I wrote said that we will give them a five-year holiday. The Labor Party wanted to give them a partial holiday. We all kind of agree on that. Let us not get to the first debate in the first week of the 42nd Parliament with the government congratulating itself on its Made in WA policy. Let us talk about a "potentially made in WA" policy if it can do all these things to deliver all these outcomes in the coming four or five years.
It is a bit like the government's plan to transition out of coal-fired power generation, which it still will not deliver under its current plans. Even that is in a part of its Made in WA plan under "transmission towers".
Hon Stephen Dawson interjected.
Hon Dr Steve Thomas: Yes, people say that; they say I am a pessimist. A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist. The minister should just remember that in the future. The government is going to be building transmission towers and energy infrastructure. That is good. It will need them because its current transition plan does not work. We are going to run out of energy in 2027 based on its current plan. It does not have enough energy. Funnily enough, if we look at what the Labor Party said, it will have more gas in the system anyway. Hon Stephen Dawson: Hon Dr Steve Thomas: Absolutely. Is the minister talking about the 2025 election?
Hon Stephen Dawson:
Hon Dr Steve Thomas: No, we do not talk about the 2021 one. I have spoken on the 2021 election policy ad nauseam. I do not need to repeat myself. The minister knows what I said. I believe that was a summary, not a statement.
The government's energy policy is falling over. It is constructing stuff to actually deliver the energy transition. It has an aspiration to get involved in those industries. That is good. It should be aspirational. I am going to hold the government to that for the next four years because I think the best it has is aspiration, and I think we should encourage aspiration. I aspired to be six foot when I was younger. Our aspirations do not always come true. Hon Dan Caddy, Hon Tjorn Sibma and I are classic examples of that.
Hon Stephen Dawson:
Hon Dr Steve Thomas: Now, let us not be rude!
The government should be aspirational and also honest as part of that process. It should be a little honest that it has a bunch of projects that probably will not come off. It has a few that are a possibility. It is a bit like the investment it has made into Collie for the transition away from coal. Some of those projects might work. A couple of them look quite reasonable. I back the ones that look reasonable. I am not here just to throw rocks at the government. But the government is not converting Collie and it is not yet converting manufacturing in this state
