Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

  The people of Hotham returned a Labor member to this House because they wanted to be represented by a person, and by a party, who would stand up for their interests and protect their jobs. It is in this spirit that I rise to express the anger in my community about the incompetent and feeble manner in which the government has handled the decline of the auto manufacturing industry and the emerging unemployment problem in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Just over a year ago the Treasurer stood opposite me in this chamber and goaded Holden and Toyota into ceasing car manufacturing in Australia. Car manufacturing accounts for 6,000 jobs across the four local government areas I represent—1,000 people in the Hotham electorate alone are directly employed by car manufacturing companies and component and parts manufacturers. Many families that I represent will see their breadwinner lose their job. This will put 5,000 small businesses operating in my electorate under threat and it will threaten the jobs of many others who relied on what was a thriving local economy.

I do not want to list the businesses affected because I do not want to create additional problems by talking those businesses down, suffice to say that I have visited factories that were humming 18 months ago but have for rent signs on the fences today. I have spoken to managers who have already had heartbreaking conversations with workers who have been with them for decades. I want to remind the House that this is a government that came to office promising it would create a million jobs. They could hardly have started their term with a more shocking economic record. Labor got Australia through the global financial crisis with barely a blip, yet today unemployment is much higher than it ever was during the global financial crisis—11 per cent of our workforce are unemployed, and 20 per cent of 15- 19-year-olds. The last time unemployment was this high, our Prime Minister was the employment minister of this nation. Underemployment is also rising, with a further nine per cent of the workforce not able to find the hours they want and need.

Imagine a government faced with these figures. They would be spurred immediately into action, because nothing could be more critical than ensuring every worker has a job. And yet what is the government doing? The facts make my blood boil. First, instead of trying to slow the transition of Holden and Toyota out of Australia so we can manage the unemployment that will result, the government is trying to cut an additional $900 million out of the Automotive Transformation Scheme. Labor is holding up this funding cut in the Senate, but if it gets through the car industry will leave much more quickly than the 2017 date they have given us. This is the first key plank in the coalition's policy framework—get them out quicker, leading to an earlier collapse and a disorderly transition.

Second, the government has talked about a $30 million Skills and Training Program. Mr Deputy Speaker, did you know that this program is not money from government but money that Holden and Toyota have pledged to support these workers? Not a cent of that $30 million announcement is money from government.

Third, the government has talked of an Automotive Industry Structural Adjustment Program. I have looked into this one too. When you follow the links online to get information about what this program is, it takes you back to the Job Services Australia site. This $15 million is simply the additional cost the government expects to incur as a result of needing to support an additional 200,000 people and get them into alternative employment. This is not extra money; it is an expense that the Commonwealth would have incurred anyway. These are the only two programs the government has announced to support these workers.

I call on the government to do some very specific things that need to happen. I am not going to criticise and leave them without a solution. First, we need a regional jobs plan for the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Secondly, the government needs to involve investment in innovation to ensure we attract new companies and industries to areas like Hotham. Thirdly, we need specific support for workers. It is that basic—workers will need good advice on regional job markets in the medium term. I want to see every auto worker in my electorate with a realistic pathway to ongoing employment beyond their job disappearing. I want to see real support for training and skills development, and I want to see that now, not when these people hit the back of a dole queue.

We may need to go further than this, but these are the bare minimums that any Australian citizen who has this government to thank for losing their livelihood should be entitled to. Until the proper support is provided, I will be standing in this parliament and fighting for local jobs in my community of Hotham. That is what my constituents elected me to do.