"The detrimental impact this continues to have not only on individuals, but on their families and on our local community as a whole, is enormous."
"In July, figures for manufacturing employment fell nationally for the thirteenth consecutive month. Since the election of the Howard Government in 1996, more than 145,000 Australian manufacturing jobs have been lost. 60,000 of these have been lost since the Government was re-elected in 2004."
"Over the past 18 months in Calwell, we have seen a worrying loss of manufacturing jobs."
Autoliv – 500 jobs gone Kozmo Industries
– 40 jobs gone Kraft
– 151 Jobs gone Ford – 250 over both sites Broadmeadows and Geelong
"And now we can add to this list a further 9 manufacturing jobs lost at AA Gaskets just this week. This is yet another blow to the working men and women of my electorate who rely on the manufacturing sector for their livelihoods."
"Many of these employees had been in their jobs for a long period of time and had provided loyal service to their employer’s. As manufacturing jobs are sent off shore, more people will lose their jobs. It is a tragedy that local jobs must be lost so that companies can remain viable. If the current trend continues, then yes I think workers should be concerned about the future of their jobs. Under the Howard government, job security in the manufacturing sector has virtually become a thing of the past. What chance do ordinary Australian workers have when the government seems fixated on destroying whatever remains of workers rights, and on destroying unions?"
"The future of a viable and successful manufacturing industry in Australia, one that is able to provide decent jobs and decent wages for Australians, must be based on a foundation of skills, quality and innovation, not an industrial relations approach aimed at reducing wages, conditions and entitlements and removing job security."
"The Howard government’s refusal in the last Budget to invest in training and education programs, especially in vocational education programs, only goes to show that the government has no answer to, and has not understood, the worsening skills crisis in Australia."
"To address the skills shortage in Australia, we need to invest in training and education programs, and that needs to happen now. The long term health of Australia’s economy depends on it."
"The reason for Australia’s skills shortage is the Howard government’s lack of long term vision in its failure to invest in skills training.”
Media Contact: Alex Kouttab 0417 541 465
