Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 24 October last year, the workers at the Golden Circle factory in Mill Park received the news that no employee wants to hear: their positions were to be made redundant.

The news that the plant would close came as something of a surprise, given that two years ago, Heinz Australia, which owns Golden Circle, announced that it planned to invest over $10 million over four years in the Mill Park factory to install robotic palletisations to improve efficiency. It is unclear what has changed in two years such that all of a sudden the factory was being described as too small and no longer commercially viable.

Over the last few days, workers have been involved in industrial action as they seek to negotiate with Heinz regarding their redundancy packages. I call on Heinz to sit down with their employees and their representatives and negotiate in good faith to give these workers a fair acknowledgement of their commitment to the Mill Park plant.

Since the Golden Circle closure announcement, the northern suburbs of Melbourne have had further bad news with the announced closures of Toyota and Holden. The manufacturing industry employs 9,300 people in Scullin, and over 39,400 people across the northern suburbs of Melbourne. In light of this I was keen to identify what jobs plan for people in Scullin these announced closures would elicit from the Victorian and federal governments. Predictably, there has been none. This is in keeping with the coalition's policy of having no policy or plan when it comes to jobs.

The people of Australia—the people of Scullin—are quickly seeing a coalition unprepared, even unwilling, to assume the role and responsibilities of government. Despite what the Assistant Minister for Employment might believe, it is clear that you cannot run a country on three-word slogans, and you certainly cannot run a country on negativity.

Too often we see skilled and secure jobs replaced with low-skilled, low-paid, insecure jobs. This does not have to be the fate of these workers at Mill Park. An innovative, dynamic and sustainable manufacturing industry is possible. And, as Labor has shown, there is a role for government in facilitating and leading this process.

I want to thank local state members, Lily D'Ambrosio, the member for Mill Park; and Bronwyn Halfpenny, the member for Thomastown, for their hard work in this area. Both Lily and Bronwyn recognise the need to work with the federal government to achieve shared outcomes for Melbourne's north. And they recognise the need to work with workers and their unions, such as the AMWU. I acknowledge the union's work, and particularly the work of Tom Hale, in standing up for the food sector more generally and drawing attention to the impact on suppliers in regional communities.

The workers at the Golden Circle factory have until March to find alternative employment. It is not too late for this government to do more than just say no. I urge the government to adopt, in full, Labor's $1 billion jobs package. I am in this place to stand up, and speak up for the workers at Golden Circle, and workers like them. I know the community is on side.

But this government of 'grown ups', and 'no surprises and no excuses', has had nothing to say on jobs for these workers and their families. They deserve a plan.