Moreland-based printing business PMI has been given a $2.6 million grant, expected to create about 175 jobs in the next five years.
The joint state-federal government windfall comes a month after a $1 million robotic technology grant for Epping caravan-maker New Age Caravans, which will lead to 65 more jobs.
The two grants are the first handouts of Melbourne’s North Innovation Investment Fund (MNIIF), also known as the Ford transition fund.
But in State Parliament last week Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire said the new jobs are a mere “trickle”. He said there was a long way to go to compensate for the number of jobs lost by the announced closure of Ford’s plants in Geelong and Campbellfield.
When the company finally ceases manufacturing in Australia at the end of October 2016, more than 1200 workers will have been laid off, most of them from the Campbellfield plant.
The Victorian government has $49 million in a kitty to create jobs for former Ford employees, to be divided equally between its
the plants. But last week Premier Napthine copped a broadside from South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, who dubbed a
$100 million package announced by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in response to Holden’s exit as a car manufacturer as “pathetic”. He said Dr Napthine had been “asleep at the wheel” on the future of Australia’s ailing car industry.
Holden employs about 1900 workers in Victoria and 1760 in South Australia, according to the company’s report to the Productivity Commission.
With Toyota following Holden out of Australia, a further 4200 jobs are on the line.
The federal government is due to release a Productivity Commission report into Australia’s car manufacturing this month.
