WA Industry groups and unions campaigning for more skilled work to be performed locally have welcomed legislation proposed by Opposition Leader Eric Ripper on Tuesday.

Mr Ripper announced the legislation in front of a rally of more than 5,000 of WA’s steel fabrication business owners, metal tradespeople, engineers and concerned members of the community at Parliament on Tuesday.

The rally was staged by the Skilled Work Alliance, which includes the Australian Steel Institute (ASI), the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers of Australia (APESMA), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AWMWU) and the Australian Steel Institute. The Skilled Work Alliance has been campaigning for new laws to stop WA’s major resources projects ending their skilled engineering and fabrication work offshore.

ASI State Manager James England said he was looking forward to seeing the detail of Labor’s proposed laws.

“We have been campaigning for new laws to boost the amount of skilled engineering and fabrication work performed in WA from our major resources projects, and it is good to see that some of our politicians have been listening,” he said.

“Canada has highly successful legislation that ensures a big share of skilled engineering and fabrication work from their major resources projects is performed in Canada and we think we can achieve the same in Western Australia.

“The Canadian legislation delivers more skilled work for Canadian businesses and workers without mandated local content levels, and we support this approach.

“We welcome Labor’s proposed legislation and we look forward to sitting down with Mr Ripper and discussing the detail.”

AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney said WA’s hung Parliament presented a unique opportunity to get the new legislation through the Parliament.

“With the National Party holding the balance of power in both houses of State Parliament, we think there is a real opportunity to get Labor’s proposed legislation through the Parliament,” he said.

“We look forward to sitting down with both the National Party and discussing how securing more skilled work from our major projects for WA would benefit regional WA and the whole of the State.”