Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to discuss an issue I have raised many times in this place, and that is jobs for South Australia. In particular, I have been disappointed that the government has not announced a proper strategy for job creation when Holden leaves later this year. In lieu of the government actually doing the hard work on this, I have locally put together the Southern Jobs Taskforce. I recently held the first meeting in my electorate.

I have to say in South Australia we are facing a challenging time ahead. Holden will make its final exit later this year. That will mark the end of automotive manufacturing in this country. State and federal governments have recognised that there are challenges, but the federal government has not put forward solutions. The focus of discussion has been northern Adelaide, but it must be remembered that the south will also be heavily impacted. In fact, across Australia by 2020 the south of Adelaide will have the fourth largest loss of manufacturing employment. The loss is expected to be around 1,700 jobs.

This presents enormous challenges for the south of Adelaide and we need a plan going forward to create and secure local jobs, to support the growth of our existing industries, to encourage the emergence of new industries and to attract investment to the region. This is the reason why I organised the Southern Jobs Taskforce. I would like to thank all the local businesses, schools, higher education providers, training providers as well as departmental officials who came to sit down and share ideas about the economic future of southern Adelaide.

The task force has produced a number of recommendations for southern Adelaide, the main one being the development of a strategic plan for our region. The task force stressed how important it is for southern Adelaide to have a strategic plan that clearly identifies and targets industries and long-term priorities for our region. This type of plan will attract investment into the area and create long-term stability for businesses. This is something that I have presented to the state government and to the federal government as well.

We need to focus on the best asset of our region, and that is its population, its workers. They need to be appropriately trained and skilled, but they also need job opportunities in our area. So I look forward to continuing to work in the local area to develop a plan so that we will have a long-term economic future in southern Adelaide.