Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria)– The Ford announcement last Thursday has magnified the perilous state of the vehicle industry tenfold, yet the other side of politics continues with a policy that would lead to a worsening of the jobs environment and potentially close yet another manufacturer.
My understanding is that serious work is currently under way to identify those parts suppliers impacted by the Ford announcement. The flow-on effect has the potential to lead to even more significant job losses than the initial announcement, but despite this widely held knowledge this state government seems incapable of grasping the consequences. To date the government has offered no hope to redundant car workers other than to offer an inadequate amount of money for some retraining. The question has to be asked: retrained into what?
The vast majority of Ford workers are non-trade, are aged in their 50s, have mortgages and families and cannot afford to retire. On behalf of non-trade blue-collar workers in Geelong and Broadmeadows, I ask the Premier to clearly identify where all the blue-collar jobs are for the 1200 Ford workers who will become redundant.
Ford workers will not be hoodwinked into believing that the Epping market will be their salvation.
All the jobs will be gone, and if we do get the national disability insurance scheme headquarters in Geelong, it will be mainly white-collar jobs, not jobs for the large number of blue-collar workers in Geelong. The Napthine — —
Honourable members interjecting.
The PRESIDENT — Order! There is way too much interjection from the government benches, thank you. Ms Tierney, without assistance.
Ms TIERNEY — The Napthine government has no jobs plan and presides over a dwindling economy and accelerating jobless figures. Working people in this state have got the right to work, and they expect a lot better of any government.
