Opinion Piece - ALP stands for stronger WA - The West Australian

I wish there was billboard at Canberra Airport as my colleagues arrive for each sitting week. It would steal from Bill Clinton’s campaign mantra and simply say “It’s the WA economy, stupid”.

This billboard would remind all 227 Federal MPs that when WA does well, the entire country does well.

We account for 36.5 per cent of Australia’s total exports: $171.4 billion in 2018-19.

That’s more than New South Wales and Victoria combined.

But a strong WA economy is about more than ore. It is about ensuring that people benefit from economic growth. That we don’t leave anyone behind.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has always understood this. As a former tourism and infrastructure minister, and as a friend of Western Australia.

He gets that one of Labor’s top priorities is a strong WA economy.

That’s why last month he appointed me as Labor’s megaphone for WA. The shadow assistant minister for Western Australia.

And now more than ever we need our West Australian Federal politicians to be standing up for our State.

It has been a rough start to the year for WA.

Fire, flood, a COVID-19 lockdown and an unpredictable iron ore price that could destroy the hopes of treasurers Labor and Liberal.

All of this will ricochet through the national economy.

As West Australians we can’t take the hope of an economic rebound for granted. It is fragile.

That fragility will be tested when Scott Morrison buries and cremates JobKeeper next month. It will be tested if JobSeeker — the old Newstart

— snaps back to $40 a day.

We know living costs are higher in the West. The cut to JobSeeker will further entrench disadvantage in our most vulnerable communities, rip $31 billion from the economy and jeopardise WA’s more than 120,000 retail jobs.

But despite the needs of our side of the country, each day it becomes clearer that our State is suffering because the Federal Liberal Government have lost their WA big guns of Mathias Cormann and Julie Bishop.

We now have a bunch of lightweight Liberal ministers who would rather issue legal threats or hide behind whiteboards.

One of the defining differences between Federal Labor and the Morrison Government has been respect for the role of the States.

Last year saw Scott Morrison and Christian Porter back Clive Palmer over Western Australia.

This year hasn’t been much different. The Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleague Peter Dutton went too far saying the WA lockdown was a “political slogan” and “not a realistic approach”.

Maybe, instead of attacking WA, Peter Dutton and colleagues could listen to some of the policy ideas from West Australians.

We saw in January the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA recommend a major overhaul of childcare funding. Their analysis noted that there could be a $1.5 billion boost to the WA economy by investing in child care. I know as a parent and a politician we can do so much more to help working families.

Labor’s cheaper childcare plan will make child care more affordable for 97 per cent of families and help employers get access to the skills they need.

This is all part of handing down a fairer deal to the next generation.

In my neighbourhood in North Perth, day and night you can’t avoid the sight of Uber Eats delivery bikes.

The people on those bikes are our neighbours, children and friends. They deserve the same type of workplace protections and minimum wage that protected me some 20 years earlier when I delivered pizza for Domino’s. Back then Uber Eats and Airtasker didn’t even exist.

This week, after extensive consultation, Labor released our plan for more rights for the gig economy and labour-hire workers. In effect a minimum wage for the 21st century. This is all about a level playing field for all employees. Making sure that the basics are protected in law — fair pay, job security and protection from exploitation.

Our message to West Australian working families is simple — we are on your side.

This year is an election year at every level in WA.

With a State election in March, local government elections in October and a Federal election likely sometime after August.

Politics will be everywhere. And while Federal Labor are the pandemic underdogs, every election is winnable.

I know Labor can win. And WA can be a big winner, too, by making sure we get the secure jobs, economic infrastructure and safety net support we need to continue to be the powerhouse of the national economy.

Patrick Gorman is the Federal Labor MP for Perth