My adjournment matter this evening is in relation to the township of Dartmoor
and is directed to the Minister for Regional Development, who is also the
Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation. The decision taken by Carter
Holt Harvey to close the Dartmoor mill is extremely disappointing and is
life-changing for a whole range of people, obviously for the workers but also
for the township as a whole. I had an opportunity to go to Dartmoor and speak to
a group of employees from the mill and then later in the day attend a community
meeting and a further community meeting which followed in the Dartmoor hall on
the evening of 25 August. Those meetings were important in that they provided a
lot of information to the workers and residents of Dartmoor on how to go
forward. The informal discussions between and after the meetings were also rich
in history, information and hope.
Fortunately the south-west is seeing unprecedented growth, and
increased substantial growth is planned. We have also had recent announcements
of investments in Portland, Heywood and the Moyne shire. So there will be jobs
available in the south-west, albeit many of them will be of a different type. I
ask the minister to provide me with an update on the exercise that has taken
place to identify the skills and training gaps — an audit has been undertaken
— so that we can get training under way for Dartmoor workers to be job ready as soon as possible. I also ask him to provide a
general update on what Regional Development Victoria has been doing in relation
to working with the community to make new opportunities available for the
township.
