CAPALABA MP Don Brown has called on Walker Corporation to prioritise local jobs during the proposed 15 to 20-year Toondah Harbour redevelopment.
Mr Brown said that the $1.4 billion redevelopment would be the Redlands' biggest construction project in a generation and a massive opportunity to train and sustain a strong local tradie workforce.
"Revitalising Toondah Harbour is a 15 to 20-year project with a big civil works and construction component," he said. "It will rebuild the harbour, boost community infrastructure and deliver new housing.
"It will also generate more visitation and boost the local tourism industry which means more people employed locally who aren't driving back and forth to Brisbane every day."
Walker Corporation's property development director Peter Saba said that an initial study had found that more than 1000 construction-related jobs would be delivered each year during building and 500 ongoing jobs created.
"There is a huge variety of works programs across civil and construction projects over many years, as well as housing and long-term jobs in areas like retail and tourism," Mr Saba said.
"We would like as many of the construction jobs as possible to come from within the Redlands and we'll be asking our contractors to focus on that opportunity, but of course longer-term jobs will mainly be locals working in new enterprises in areas like retail and tourism."
Mr Brown said he encouraged Walker to partner with Alexandra Hills TAFE to look at workforce and training needs. "Toondah promises a pipeline of local work that makes training purposeful and exciting for local kids," he said.
Mr Saba said such a partnership would a smart and positive move.
"The scale and longevity of the Toondah Harbour redevelopment means we can work with TAFE to deliver training courses that match our works packages, ensuring that local contractors can hire the right people with skills the project needs," Mr Saba said.
Mr Brown said there should be a 15 per cent minimum intake for apprentices, which Mr Saba said Walker would try to exceed.
Mr Brown said local contractors needed to start planning to meet Walker's needs.
He had asked Walker to organise a local information session so that trades could start to gear up.
The project's environmental impact study is expected to be under way within months.
