The problem for a politician who chooses to become a prince of promises is that he eventually gets tried in the people’s court of public opinion.

The imperious pledge by Premier Mark McGowan last week to create 150,000 jobs in WA has a deadline pushed out three years beyond the next State election.

But that won’t save him from judgment come polling day on March 13, 2021.

Even those with average memories should recall McGowan went into the 2017 election promising to create 50,000 new jobs.

The Government claims to have fulfilled 32,000 jobs from that promise, even though there are 10,000 more people looking for work now than then.

McGowan’s new promise came just a day before the Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures showing WA has its equal worst unemployment level in two decades, 0.5 percentage points higher at 6.8 than when the Government took office.

We appear to be losing jobs faster than McGowan can take credit for creating them. And unless there is a net gain, it’s really pointless crowing about new jobs.

Reality check: Nearly 100,000 West Australians are out of work. When WA’s unemployed total reached 92,000 in 2016, McGowan in opposition proclaimed it as “a jobs crisis of monumental proportions that is of the Liberal-National Government’s making”.

After two years in Government, who’s to blame now? And where are the new jobs coming from?

Anyone suggesting the renewable energy boom Labor is promising federally will provide them might consider what is happening with wind farms

. The McGowan Government is preening about giving the go-ahead for the $500 million Warradarge wind farm near Eneabba, one of a suite of State-owned Synergy’s renewable energy assets that it clandestinely privatised last year.

Initially they were going into a joint venture to be 80 per cent owned by the Dutch Infrastructure Fund. But after the foreign ownership issue was disclosed, the Government announced that half of DIF’s share would be picked up by union super fund, Cbus. Everything was put in a corporate vehicle called Bright Energy Investments.

The Government last week announced contracts for engineering, procurement and construction and also operations and maintenance at Warradarge had been awarded to a “world-renowned” company called Vestas, without saying it was based in Denmark. No, not our Denmark.

So I asked Energy Minister Bill Johnston if Warradarge was subject to the McGowan Government’s new local participation plans and what local content requirements had been applied.

Strangely enough, the questions — which were clearly about Government policy — were sent to Bright to answer.

“The tender process for the Warradarge wind farm commenced in the first half of 2017, prior to the introduction of the WA Industry Participation Strategy,” Bright replied.

“As such, the project and tender specifications was not subject to a local participation plan nor mandated local content requirement.

“However, we are committed to maximising WA employment and procurement opportunities, where feasible, in developing WA renewables and it is expected that civil construction works on-site at the Warradarge wind farm will be undertaken by WA contractors, creating up to 200 jobs.

“There are no Australian or Western Australian wind turbine manufacturers.”

If the intention is to cover Australia with wind farms to put coal miners out of jobs, will all the manufacturing work involved in creating them go overseas?

Vestas has done a deal to “assemble” wind turbines in Victoria, but, for Warradarge, Bright says the Danish company “will manufacture the towers and blades offshore, with the assembly of the turbines occurring on site”.

That term “where feasible” is pregnant with negative possibilities. I put in some more questions which had to go to the Netherlands for answers from DIF. So much for Labor’s local projects, local jobs slogan.

What process ensures that the 200 construction jobs will go to West Australians?

Is there any guarantee that the bulk of those jobs will not go to workers brought in from overseas or interstate?

Where will the workforce come from to assemble the turbines and towers?

For future wind farm proposals, what would be the mandated local content requirement?

The answer from Amsterdam, via Synergy and the Minister’s office, was this:

“The contracted on-site works include roads, cabling, tower foundations and hardstands, tower assembly/cranage and substation (electrical) works.

“The contracting arrangements will seek to maximise opportunities for WA workers, wherever possible, however the final determination of individuals engaged for the works is a matter for the contractor, Vestas.”

Wherever possible? Hardly even a McGowan promise.