Main Roads Western Australia has worked to ensure greater employment opportunities for Aboriginal people are considered in new road building contracts.
Work over the past six months has provided about 170 Aboriginal employment opportunities within the State’s road building industry, with a significant increase expected as future projects get underway.
The plan was developed by Main Roads as part of the Government’s new Aboriginal Procurement Policy, to apply across government from July 1, 2018.
The policy requires all government agencies to award a percentage of contracts each year to registered Aboriginal businesses.
Main Roads is set to be one of the first agencies to meet the requirement by mandating Aboriginal employment and business opportunities into its design and construct contract procurement process for major projects and new long-term maintenance contracts.
Major achievements to date include:
- A contractual commitment to employ 49 Aboriginal people and four trainees on the Great Northern Highway upgrade at Maggie’s Jump Up and Wyndham Spur projects worth $60 million;
- A target of 58 per cent of total labour hours worked by Aboriginal people on the Bow River Bridge project on Great Northern Highway, with 38 per cent to be provided through Aboriginal communities. The project is costing $38.5 million;
- Full-time work for 20 people on the Broome-Cape Leveque Road Project ($66 million) and a proviso for at least 20 per cent of subcontract works to be undertaken by Aboriginal businesses;
- A permanent workforce of 13 Aboriginal people on the new five-year Mid-West/Gascoyne maintenance contract worth $88 million;
- The employment of five Aboriginal people on the five-year Wheatbelt maintenance contract worth $92 million; and
- Main Roads is also expecting strong outcomes from the Tom Price-Karratha Road project.