Peter Andren (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. With the closure of Cowra’s largest employer, the Cowra Abattoir, and the loss of 200 jobs, will the minister confirm to the House his commitment to swift financial assistance, especially as workers’ entitlements may not be finalised for seven weeks and these job losses represent four per cent of Cowra’s working population? Will the minister consider an assistance package to ameliorate the impact of the job losses on a Cowra economy where other manufacturers are also struggling, mainly against unfair international competition? Could Cowra Abattoir workers expect, along with provisions of the GEER scheme, extra support, similar to that provided in the wake of the Adelaide Mitsubishi restructure in 2004?

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Calare for his question and for his obvious interest in the workers at Cowra. I have been informed that Cowra Abattoir is currently under voluntary administration. In the normal course, if a decision is taken by the administrator to place Cowra Abattoir into liquidation, then this government will provide swift financial assistance through the GEER scheme to support those eligible employees who remain out of pocket because of any inability on the part of the employer to provide them with their entitlements.

I remind the House that, since the inception of this scheme in the year 2000, the Australian government has helped over 59,000 employees and has advanced over $697 million in assistance to them. This is a scheme that only this government has put into operation. A couple of years ago we sought that the states contribute, on a fifty-fifty basis with the Commonwealth, to a national scheme that would provide further entitlements to workers who find themselves in this situation in Australia. Regrettably, we have not had assistance from the states in order to do that.

Peter Andren (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. I appreciate what the minister is saying but I ask that he address that extra support package for retraining and other processes for an economy that is being double-whammied by impacts, including Cowra Abattoir.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Calare has asked his question, and the minister is still giving his answer. I call the minister.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I fully appreciate the member for Calare’s concern in this regard. As I said, we will await the advice of the administrator. I understand that the administrator is trying to sell this business as a going concern. If that business can be sold as a going concern—which might involve some restructure because of the financial difficulty that the business is facing—it will be the best outcome for the workers, their families and the people of Cowra more broadly because it will preserve jobs in Cowra. We will continue to monitor the situation and, if there is any further information I can provide to the honourable member, I will do so.

Can I make this final point: we were mocked in this place because we said, when this was raised by the Labor Party and the ACTU, that in some circumstances businesses will have to restructure to remain viable. The Office of Workplace Services found that this business had been facing financial difficulty over a long period of time. Regrettably that has proven to be the case, and I think some of the people on the other side should think again about what they said earlier on.