Member for Western Victoria, Gayle
Tierney last night gave an adjournment motion speech in parliament stressing
the importance of manufacturing inGeelong.
Ms Tierney also called on
the Minister for Industry and Trade, Theo Theophanous, to advise of the
strategy and subsequent implementation of the $24 million Investment and Innovation
Fund from the Federal and State Governments, and Ford.
“Many people who live in Geelong want to know
what will be put in place to align the skills held by Ford workers with the
skills that will be required by newly created jobs in Geelong,
“The community supports measures that will
ensure manufacturing continues such as the declaration of the Ford Geelong site
as a manufacturing precinct,” she said.
Ms Tierney says while high technology industries and tourism are very important, totally
replacing manufacturing with these two industries is not well thought out and
not economically sustainable.
“We need to know that ongoing manufacturing
in Geelong is
strongly supported by Governments because it is strongly supported by the
community,
“Manufacturing has played an extremely
important role and has underpinned the Geelong
economy.
“Geelong
is well positioned to be the home of ongoing manufacturing,” she said.
Ms Tierney
says there are two main issues for Geelong
in relation to the Ford announcement,
“There must be
an ongoing commitment to manufacturing and specific strategies for
manufacturing to grow and prosper as well as attracting new industries,” she
said.