Albany call centre a boon for regional jobs

26/5/04
Great Southern Minister Kim Chance today officially opened the new Synergy call centre in Albany, which is expected to provide up to 120 full-time jobs once fully operational.
"Since the call centre opening in early March, 38 local people now have permanent jobs, with further jobs to be created in the future as the centre's operations expand," Mr Chance said.
The Albany call centre recently commenced operation with an initial staff of about 15 employees.
The Minister said the establishment of call centres in the South-West and Great Southern was an important step in providing a diversified and stable employment path for regional Western Australia.
"These call centres will provide a service for businesses that range from a simple message service answering phone calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to tailored solutions to handle customer service, billing or help desk calls," he said.
Late last year, the Gallop Government signed a $1.8million financial assistance agreement with Synergy Regional Pty Ltd to create three new call centres in Collie, Albany and Bunbury.
The Collie call centre, which has 36 seats, is now open and employs 34 staff. Albany is the second of the proposed network of three centres.
The package will be provided incrementally upon the achievement of agreed milestones. The South-West Development Commission contributed $1million towards the package, which will be administered by the Department of Industry and Resources (DoIR).
"The State's provision of financial assistance is consistent with our regional purchasing policy, which aims to stimulate economic and employment opportunities in regional WA," Mr Chance said.
"It also supports the Gallop Government's Protecting Our Old Growth Forests policy by creating new employment initiatives in areas affected by the reduction in old growth logging.
"In addition, it addresses the State Government's election commitment to upgrade the telecommunications infrastructure in the South-West, as part of our South-West Online policy."
Albany MLA Peter Watson said the call centre opening was another sign of confidence by a major company - in this case, Synergy - and the State Government in the future of Albany.
"Through this and other major contributions to future capital infrastructure in the city of Albany, the State Government is creating the climate to attract greater investment and more jobs to the region," Mr Watson said.
In the past few years the number of call centres in WA has grown significantly, with at least three major centres each, housing more than 250 seats and two regionally-based call centre networks, totalling more than 280 seats opening in the past two years.
"The State Government's efforts to attract national and international customer contact centres to the State has seen leading companies such as Westpac Bank and Stellar Call Centres Pty Ltd open major call centres at Joondalup and Telstra in central Perth," Mr Chance said.
"As a government, we have taken conscious steps to develop a knowledge-based economy through our movement into high-tech industries.
"These industries have taken on world-class dimensions and have led to growing demand for a more highly skilled and educated workforce.
"The Gallop Government is confident this new direction will encourage more and more companies to locate their contact centres in WA."
Minister's office: 9213 6700