Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to hear the assistant minister speak about creating jobs. He might be concerned, though, to know that, according to LeadWest figures, there are 4,000 workers in the seat of Lalor whose jobs are linked to the auto industry, and many more in Melbourne's west. Workers in component businesses and supporting industries have, as we know, been struggling with the knowledge since that fateful day when Joe Hockey dared Holden to leave Australia, a sad day for Victoria and a very sad day for Melbourne, including Melbourne's west.

I would like to ask the minister, as one of my questions, exactly how many engineers were working in Holden's R&D division when that announcement came and where they are employed now. How many of them have maintained their employment in this country? How many of them have become part of the brain drain and headed overseas?

I understand that the government has done some things in its transition proposal. I understand that in key seats in the south-east of Victoria, such as Corangamite, and in certain parts of South Australia, as we have just heard, the government has made specific attempts to support people. Nothing specific, however, has been done for the people in Melbourne's outer west—nothing from this government. In round 2 of the Next Generation Manufacturing Investment Program, one grant recipient was from Melbourne's west. Unfortunately, although the business is based in Melbourne, those jobs are going to Kilmore.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 13:12 to 13:24

The fact is that, of $30,498,000 spent in round 2 of the program to help businesses deal with changes to the automotive industry, not a cent was spent in businesses in the west of Melbourne.

The Victorian government, on the other hand, have a good handle on this. They understand what the support industries affected in Melbourne's west need. They have committed $46.5 million for their plan to facilitate Victoria's automotive transition plan, which is called Towards Future Industries: Victoria's Automotive Transition Plan—a catchy title. As part of this plan, the Victorian state government have committed $10.6 million for Melbourne's north, $10 million for Melbourne's south-east, $7.5 million for the Geelong region and, critically, $5 million for Melbourne's west. The Victorian government appreciate the fact that our region has suffered significant job losses in industries tangentially connected to the auto industry. The Labor government in 2013 committed $30 million to assist businesses like those in my community under the previous Labor government's Automotive New Markets Program, something this government replaced with a poor imitation called the Automotive Diversification Program, which directed $10 million less to feed in and support businesses.

My questions are: when will the federal government come to the table and, like the Andrews government, support effective businesses in my community? Is it that the government does not understand the complexity of the issue, or is the government only committed to assisting workers directly employed by car manufacturers because that satisfies its political purposes? Either way, the workers in my community deserve better. Does the government have a comprehensive plan for workers in Melbourne's west—significantly, the estimated 4,000 workers in the electorate of Lalor? Has the government identified the component manufacturers and other linked businesses that are at risk? Has the government identified the workers? Will these workers be supported by this government, or will they join the 700,000 unemployed and the 1.1 million underemployed Australians as the cost of doing business in this country? Will the workers in my electorate find themselves being vilified by another minister in this government for their inability to find work? Will they become part of the casualised, insecure workers that live in my electorate, under enormous pressure trying to make ends meet? Will this government give a commitment that it will support the workers in Melbourne's west—not just workers in Melbourne's south-east and not just workers in Geelong but those workers who live closest to Toyota and those workers who are employed in the seat of Lalor in the motor car components industry?

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