Workshop to find 60,000 WA jobs

20/3/00
The creation of 60,000 new jobs for the northern suburbs will be the focus of an international workshop starting today in Perth.
Opened today by Planning Minister Graham Kierath, the International Job Creation Workshop is a cornerstone of a $12 billion satellite city proposed for St Andrews, north of Perth.
Mr Kierath said the project would develop a 6000-hectare parcel of land and aim to attract 150,000 people to the area, a population 5 times the size of Bunbury.
He said there had never been a single urban development on the scale of the St Andrews project and a key component of ensuring its success was attracting industry.
"To attract that number of people to the area there is going to have to be employment for them," Mr Kierath said.
"The location is on the fringes of the existing metropolitan area and you cannot expect them all to commute every day.

"Even if they were prepared to sacrifice the extra time to travel to work, it would place an enormous pressure on the transport system and road networks."
Owned by the Japanese Tokyu Corporation, the St Andrews site is being developed under a strategic agreement with Yanchep Sun City, the city of Wanneroo and the State Government.
The 3-day Job Creation Workshop will include video-conferences with world experts on planning and an Internet site to allow community input.
Mr Kierath said the Internet site was an exciting new facet of seeking community response to the project which is expected to take 29 years to complete.
"You can't get much better community consultation than having an instant response on the Internet," Mr Kierath said.
"Just like the project itself, this job creation project is breaking new ground for urban development in Australia.
"I would urge anyone with an interest in the future of our city to take the opportunity to participate."
The Internet address for the workshop is http://www.ideaproject.com.au. The workshop begins today at the University of Western Australia and will continue at Edith Cowan University's Joondalup Campus.
Media contact: Zac Donovan (08) 9213 6400