Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Broadmeadows electorate revitalisation

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (09:53): Australia needs a bipartisan commitment to define our manufacturing future in blue-collar communities that matches the regional response to drought. There is now a unity ticket on jobs, so let us deliver them where they are needed most and will deliver the greatest value. We have a one-off opportunity to drive advanced manufacturing and infrastructure, but the Australian government must be a partner, not a bystander, particularly in Melbourne’s north.

Three years after the closure of the Ford Motor Company’s iconic assembly line marked the demise of Australia’s once proud automotive industry, the hardest hit community, Broadmeadows, is fighting back, but we need a coordinated strategy and anchor industries.

The fourth industrial revolution and advanced manufacturing define how high-value, high profit, well-paid manufacturing is more likely to establish what Australia makes and sells to the world to help us earn our way, with a model driven by investment in research and development rather than simply cost cutting. The proposed city deal for Melbourne’s north-west is one mechanism to deliver collaboration and funding. The $480 million investment just announced to upgrade the M80 ring-road is another state-shaping project, part of Victoria’s once-in-a-generation infrastructure investment. This is the collaboration that we need. My call is to ensure infrastructure projects, including further developments at Melbourne Airport and eventually a third runway, deliver local jobs for local people. After helping to attract a $500 million investor to the redeveloped Ford site, now is the time to capitalise.