Labor brought its $1 billion dollar Back to Work policy to Broadmeadows with a plan to create 100,000 jobs for Victoria. Opposition leader Dan Andrews and Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire toured Ford’s Broadmeadows Plant and received a briefing from the companies CEO Bob Graziano and other top executives. “Labor’s Back to work plan provides a lifeline for locals that the Coalition State and Federal Governments have left behind, particularly    following the Abbott Government’s decision to abandon Australia’s once proud automotive industry”, Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire said today.

“Labor’s back to work plan provides $100 million to retrain retrenched workers which will help Ford factory workers and employees in the other manufacturing industries throughout Broadmeadows.”

Frank McGuire has also been a driving force in helping to deliver Australia’s first multiversity in Broadmeadows that provides TAFE certificates and retraining through Kangan Institute, pathway courses from La Trobe University and degrees from Deakin and Victoria Universities.

“Labor understands how we need to provide the right skills and training to give people the best opportunity for new jobs” Mr McGuire said.

Our economy is in crisis. Some of our biggest companies including our automotive industry are cutting back or closing their doors and the unemployment rate hasn’t been this bad since Ansett collapsed.

“Labor has promised to make a major investment in TAFE which is fundamental for jobs, especially to give young people the opportunity they deserve” Mr McGuire said.

This is vital in Broadmeadows where the Coalition Government cut $25 million dollars from Kangan Institute’s budget and has merged it with Bendigo TAFE to try and win marginal seats in provincial Victoria. This is a cruel, heartless punishment for the Broadmeadows community which has provided the heavy lifters like Ford workers who have underwritten the states prosperity for generations. Mr McGuire welcomes CSL Behring’s announcement of an extension after his repeated calls for further investment in the company producing lifesaving plasma and exporting it internationally. He highlighted that federal and state Labor Governments have contributed about $50 million to underwrite CSL Behring’s success in Broadmeadows and called on the coalition to disclose how much they have contributed.

 

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