With great pride, I support the Local Jobs First Bill 2026. This is the biggest reform to government procurement in a generation. For the first time, New South Wales will have a framework that leverages the Government's $40 billion annual procurement spend to support local jobs, strengthen local industries and deliver greater economic benefits for our great State. Local workers and local businesses will have a genuine advantage when the Government spends public money. In 2021 I joined the then Leader of the Opposition, now the Premier, at the Dulwich Hill light rail stop. Passengers had been left stranded. The former Liberal-Nationals Government's obsession with overseas manufacturing had given us a fleet of cracked trams that had to be pulled out of service. It was one of the clearest examples of the complete failure of the former Government's procurement policy. For 12 years those opposite turned their backs on local manufacturing. They had clear public views about our ability to deliver on the products, particularly for transport, we need in our State. It was a completely ignorant approach to history and to the capabilities of people in the State and across this country.

Let us not forget that the Tangara trains were built in Newcastle and have served this State for more than 35 years. When it came to buying new trains, the former Government sent all the work offshore. The new intercity fleet was built in Korea and arrived years late. Ferries were built in China and Indonesia and came plagued with problems. They were filled with asbestos and had dangerous wheelhouse window angles that did not allow them to operate at night. We had engines stalling on Sydney Harbour. The ferries could not fit under the bridges on the Parramatta River without modification. Even the steel for the convention centre and the Metro North West was imported by the former Government. That was not just bad luck; it was a series of deliberate choices.

I recall that in budget estimates the then head of Infrastructure NSW said in response to questioning that he was "not aware of any policies which specify either preferring local materials over imported materials or setting particular targets". It was clear that they had no policies, no targets and no plans. They liked to say that they were building more than anyone before, with more cranes in the air. Remember that? But building more is not the same as building here. Over their decade in office, New South Wales lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs that went to Queensland and other States. Behind every one of those numbers is a skilled worker out of work, an apprenticeship that never started and a local supplier who lost its order book.

When we came to office, I told this House we had a big mountain to climb because there had been no commitment to buying things made in Australia, no commitment to backing New South Wales manufacturing and no commitment to local smarts and ingenuity. I said that our job was to use the levers and power of government procurement to rebuild that industry. We started in transport, by procuring from here the new ferries for the Parramatta River, with a 50 per cent local content target for new electric buses too. Now we are bringing train building home again. The trains that replace the Tangaras and the other fleets over time will be built in the Hunter, in a new state-owned factory backed by a $12 billion investment, with a 30-year pipeline of trains, around 550 ongoing jobs and a minimum requirement of 50 per cent local content.

This bill takes those levers and writes them into law for every part of the New South Wales Government. This bill creates a local procurement policy with a 30 per cent tender weighting for local content, local jobs and skills, and participation of small and medium businesses. Not just the price but also what a bid delivers for New South Wales is what will count. Above $25 million, that weighting and a local procurement plan are mandatory. Between $7.5 million and $25 million, agencies must comply or document and justify why not. Local procurement plans will lock in local jobs and local content, regional participation and participation of small and medium businesses on major contracts, so that promises made at tender are kept.

This bill will embed the future skills guarantee. On projects over $7.5 million, apprentices must make up 20 per cent of the trades workforce. On projects over $50 million, 20 per cent of the whole workforce must be apprentices, trainees, cadets and workers learning new skills. It will establish a Local Jobs First Commissioner and an advisory board with union and industry members. The commissioner will monitor how the policy is applied, give suppliers and workers a front door to the Government, and report publicly on suppliers who fail to meet their commitments. These are policies and targets the former Government never had, and now someone is accountable for them. Finally, this bill will enable a supplier debarment scheme, responding to the ICAC's Operation Hector report, so that companies found to have committed serious misconduct can be removed from the Government's supply chain.

Of course, those opposite will say that this will cost more. But that ignores that, within the bill, value for money remains the overarching test. But value for money must count the whole life of a contract and what it delivers for this State, not just the lowest up-front number. We have seen the result of an obsession with sticker price tendering and contracting. It has been well illustrated through the failures, particularly in transport procurement. Those cheap up-front prices result in delays, cost blowouts and, ultimately, inferior products. That is a false economy.

Behind every tender is a local business trying to get a fair shot. I met with a constituent of mine who runs a small specialist engineering firm with exactly the kind of expertise this State needs. But when he tried to bid for work on a major government project, he found that his small business had to partner with a larger offshore firm just to be considered. Those firms naturally put their own people first. The bill changes that. The 30 per cent weighting rewards bids that bring in local small and medium businesses, and the local procurement plans make those commitments stick.

For 12 years we were told that it did not matter where things got made. It absolutely does matter. It matters to the workers who keep their jobs, to the apprentice who gets their start, to the small business that finally gets a fair shot, and to every New South Wales taxpayer who deserves things to be built properly the first time. Public money should strengthen local manufacturing, create and sustain local, quality jobs, and expand opportunities for small‑ and medium-sized businesses. That is exactly what the bill does. I commend the bill to the House