WA will have its pick of skilled labour force over next decade: Treasurer Ben Wyatt

“Regardless of political rhetoric, we’re a safe place, our health system worked … I think people will be busting down our doors to come to Australia.

“Everybody in this room I think can be incredibly confident in the position that we are in, in a world that is more uncertain than ever.”

Mr Wyatt’s prediction came as the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre revealed the results of its November survey of WA small businesses.

Twenty-seven per cent of small businesses in WA expect to put on more staff in the next six months while only 2 per cent anticipate a decrease.

Close to 35 per cent of small businesses in the construction sector figure they will need to put on more employees which is no surprise given the amount of federal and state grants stimulating the industry.

About 32 per cent of retail traders believe they will be in need of more staff in the next six months according to the survey.

More than 40 per cent of the surveyed businesses reported a revenue decrease over the last calendar year but 79 per cent said they had not experienced a change in staffing levels.

Bankwest executive general manager Sinead Taylor told the lunch she thought a lot more people would find WA an appealing location to move.

“Not just people from WA coming back but perhaps skill-sets WA hasn’t seen before,” she said.

Mr Wyatt said the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia had told the nation’s treasurers the big challenge now was to avoid winding up with structurally high unemployment.

“You look back at post-war time or great global economic shocks, it’s the year after that you see the long term unemployment figures really start to get really sticky,” he said.

“The challenge will be in about two year’s time when we reflect on whether we’ve been able to spend … [and] whether we are able to find productive homes for a global wash of cash and whether that has an impact around inflation and productivity.”

Attracting skilled labour from overseas could be a while off yet with Premier Mark McGowan telling reporters on Friday he did not expect the international borders to be open for some time.

“A lot of our prosperity is dependent on the export of iron ore, in fact, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs all of our success is dependent upon these export industries,” he said.

“We need to get back onto a better footing in our relationship with China. Jobs here depend on it, out future success depends on it.

“I think the PM needs to assist here, he needs to be involved, he needs to work with our trading partners. It’s very important that the Commonwealth take this issue seriously.

“I would just say to the Commonwealth this is a risky business they’re engaged in and they need to work to have a great relationship with our trading partners and a great relationship with our major ally the US, they can do both at the same time.”