Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2020–21 Budget Estimates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (10:17): I refer to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee inquiry into the budget estimates 2020–21 and the contribution from the Treasurer as the Minister for Economic Development on how Victoria is trying to strengthen economic performance with a range of mechanisms. I want to concentrate in this contribution on the vision, the plans and the partnerships that are being developed for economic and social development and the benefit that this will have Victoria-wide and for the national economy and, most importantly, for a regional and local perspective.

I want to look at how we get more local jobs for local people. This is the strategy for the expansion of one of Victoria’s major economic drivers, Melbourne Airport. Melbourne Airport has been Victoria’s gateway to the world for more than 50 years. In 1939 the commonwealth Minister for Defence identified the need for a new airport site for Melbourne. The Tullamarine site was chosen because it offered ample opportunity for long-term growth. So this has been a really significant piece of infrastructure for trade, for tourism and for driving economic advancement. Just to put it into perspective, the economic contribution of Melbourne Airport is $18.2 billion in international freight moved through the airport. It also has 37.4 million passengers per year. This is the jewel in our economic crown. How we keep it curfew free is a critical aspect of doing this, and then how we address the concerns of residents, of people, as well is of high significance and a key balancing issue.

So I have proposed the ‘on just terms’ strategy for economic and social development in talks with the airport officials planning the third runway, and this is because Melbourne Airport is the biggest single-site employer outside the CBD. And I established the Melbourne Airport jobs link to provide local jobs for local people, originally with the former airport CEO, Chris Woodruff, and Hume City Council. So this is established. It has been developed. It is a strategy that is good for business, good for communities, good for people, and it also has major economic benefits for the state and the nation. To further this strategy, I have invited Melbourne Airport officials to present their expansion plans at the next meeting of the Broadmeadows Revitalisation Board 4.0 so we can coordinate with local providers.

These feature Kangan Institute to match training, skills and qualifications to the emerging jobs, and I was able to get a wonderful achievement with the Victorian government’s investment of $60 million in the last state budget for Kangan Institute. That is really important—to have the right skills and make sure that as the airport outlines its schedule of works we have the right qualifications and therefore deliver the local jobs for the local people.

Just to give you the proof of the value of this concept, Melbourne Airport draws 70 per cent of its employees from neighbouring municipalities. This is what I have always called the enlightened self-interest model for business—that you have your business but you are part of a community. If you draw your employees from that community, they are going to be loyal, they are going to deliver extra benefits and it will fit the 20-minute city argument that we have that you live and you work within 20 minutes. So people can be in the north, use this wonderful employment site and have the extra benefits that that provides.

Melbourne Airport’s key proposition, as I say, and one of its highest values is that it is curfew free and an international airport. We know that in New South Wales they are pursuing how they can match us on this. So this is an incredibly important time to deliver these issues. The master plan is out and being assessed. It looks at development objectives, future land use, environmental issues and their management, and also flight paths and noise impacts. The strategy is ‘Let’s address these issues in an enlightened way and make sure that we can manage these for everybody throughout the community on just terms’—a phrase that is from The Castle, and of course that was set in Coolaroo in the state district of Broadmeadows.