Member for Western Victoria, Gayle Tierney has stated in Parliament that she was ‘taken aback’ when she learnt that Napthine Government Manufacturing Minister has not mentioned Ford once in Victorian Parliament.
On the Victorian Hansard website, typing the word ‘Ford’ into the search bar leads to no responses under the Manufacturing Minister, David Hodgett’s name.
“Quite frankly, I have been taken aback by the fact that Minister Hodgett has made hardly any comments about manufacturing, and in terms of vehicle manufacturing I can find only one reference,” Ms Tierney said.
“He has not mentioned the word ‘Ford’ once, not once, let alone the Ford announcement on the consequential job losses.
“The only mention of the car industry is a passing reference to 100 redundancies in Victoria from Holden’s operations.
“It was one paragraph, and it was the way of ‘By the way’ and that is it, that is all we have seen from the Minister for Manufacturing.
“I was pleased to see Manufacturing Minister in Geelong today for the Geelong Jobs summit, however I feel as if it is just a fleeting visit with no real commitment or connection to Geelong and what we are going through.
“To be the Minister for Manufacturing in Victoria yet not mention Ford at all in Parliament after what has happened these past months is quite extraordinary.
Ms Tierney called on the Minister to outline in writing the actions he has taken to maintain and secure vehicle manufacturing in this state.
“In particular I seek information on what his position is, what his commitment is in relation to the attention of large vehicle manufacturing in this state as well as the auto components sector and the auto retail and services sectors, and what he has done since becoming minister to secure their on-going operations.
“Given the urgency of the issue, I seek detailed information on what meetings, measures and actions he has taken to secure the future of the Holden engine operations at Fishermans Bend.