Federal Labor has slammed the Napthine and Abbott governments over the handling of the $24.5 million Ford transition fund earmarked for Melbourne’s north.
Citing “callous disregard” for the impact of the auto industry’s demise, Senator Kim Carr, the shadow minister for research, innovation and industry, and Scullin MP Andrew Giles joined forces last week to denounce the lack of viable alternatives for redundant auto workers.
“Proposed cuts of $900 million to the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS), announced in the May budget, demonstrates, unequivocally, the failure of Mr Abbott and his colleagues to fully appreciate the deep and complex consequences of the end of auto manufacturing in Australia,” Senator Carr told Star Weekly.
“It’s estimated there will be a $20 billion-plus hit to the budget bottom line as a result of these closures.”
Senator Carr described as “paltry” the government’s $100 million allocation for a “so-called” growth fund and $50 million for a manufacturing grants program.
“These in no way offset the hundreds of millions slashed from auto assistance,” he said.
“Indeed, these measures fall well short of what is needed to deal with the planned shutdowns of Holden, Ford and Toyota.
“Labor condemns the callous disregard of a government that is determined, not only to destroy an industry, but to provide no viable alternative for workers who are losing their jobs.”
Mr Giles called for a transition plan for the employees at component manufacturers affected by the Ford, Holden and Toyota closures.
He said manufacturing employed 9300 people in Scullin and more than 39,400 people across the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
“Too often we see skilled and secure jobs replaced with low-skilled, low-paid, insecure jobs,” he said.
Mr Giles’ comments came after last week’s state government announcement of a $1.3 million grant from the Melbourne North Investment and Innovation Fund (MNIIF) to UK-owned Australian gourmet food manufacturer Baxter Foods, part of a $13.4 million redevelopment to establish the company’s Asia-Pacific headquarters at Campbellfield.
MNIIF was set up in tandem with a fund for Geelong of the same amount when Ford announced last year it would close local manufacturing plants at the end of 2016.
State and federal government and Ford itself are contributing to the fund and there have been a series of announcements in recent months about approved co-investments.
Victoria’s manufacturing minister, David Hodgett, said the latest investment would create 39 new full-time jobs by June 2016 and a further 26 by the project’s completion.
Mr Hodgett said the seven MNIIF grants allocated so far were worth $9.8 million and were leveraging $29 million in private sector investment.
They are expected to create more than 380 new full-time equivalent jobs by 2018.
