Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Like him, we were very sad and disappointed to see the reports today of the job losses at Cadbury's Claremont plant. But the honourable member's historical account is one from which I must differ. The coalition pledged $16 million to upgrades at Cadbury's Tasmanian plant in the lead-up to the 2013 election; that is so. But it is also a matter of public record that Cadbury subsequently withdrew its application for those federal government funds, and the funds were then redirected to a Tasmanian jobs and investment fund—and I will come back to that in a moment. Obviously, the decision that's been taken is a commercial matter for Cadbury's parent company, Mondelez, but we understand that these sorts of decisions significantly, grievously, impact workers, their families and the local economy. We're making assistance available to affected workers through the jobactive service, which is connecting jobseekers with employers through a national network of providers in over 1,700 locations, and the What's Next? website and online resources.

The government is also committed to economic development and creating new jobs in Tasmania. Through the Tasmania Jobs and Investment Fund, there are 56 business projects expected to create more than 700 new jobs in Tasmania. As the honourable member will recall, the $16 million of federal money was joined with $8 million of state government money to make a $24 million fund. We're also investing $25 million in the Regional Jobs and Investment Package for Tasmania, which is—

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