Jodie Campbell (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have spoken in this House before of the resilience, determination and creativity of the people of north-east Tasmania. Since last this parliament sat, all these traits have been well and truly tested. Timber company Gunns, for reasons I will not go into, closed one of the Auspine timber mills in the town of Scottsdale. As you would be aware, Mr Speaker, workers at both of the Auspine mills have been through a tough and tumultuous couple of years. More than 70 full-time workers and the same number of casuals lost their jobs. In a community the size of Scottsdale the effect was potentially devastating. I was in Scottsdale on the day the workers heard the news and I can say that the government responded quickly with practical assistance. Through the Minister for Employment Participation, Mr Brendan O’Connor, Centrelink and the region’s employment service providers were in Scottsdale almost immediately to offer workers advice and counselling as they made decisions regarding redundancies and their future.

The problems and decisions faced by those in the community affected by the Tonganah mill closure did not stop there, nor did the support offered by the Rudd government. It took time, as well it should, to develop a $4½ million economic development package. The government had no prior notice of the intention of Gunns to close the mill and we responded as quickly as we could, all the while appreciating that it is public money we are speaking about. It must be spent correctly. Accountability and transparency have become a hallmark of this government, and that is essential when dealing with large sums of taxpayer funds. $3.91 million of this package will be spent through the North East Tasmania Innovation and Investment Fund. The remaining $600,000 will be distributed via a business microcapital scheme.

Much has been said by those opposite about this package. To them I would say this: it is a package which is about creating high-wage, high-skill jobs for the north-east. It is not about hollow promises—funds committed but never spent—and empty rhetoric like that practised by the former government. This package and these innovation funds were cheered when they were announced, and well they should have been.

No-one is suggesting, least of all me, that this is a silver bullet which will solve all the issues facing north-east Tasmania. It is an initiative which encourages investment. It rewards projects that facilitate activities which generate sustainable employment and economic development. Quite rightly, there is a particular focus on projects which provide employment opportunities for displaced workers from the Gunns Auspine mill. I am informed by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research that a similar program in the Victorian city of Geelong, which invested $3.3 million, generated $24 million worth of additional investment. This is not about propping up unsustainable industries and communities. It is about ensuring that communities are offered every opportunity to develop sustainable and economically viable industries and businesses which secure their long-term future. It is about responsible governing.

The Rudd government has actually committed to spending money in the north-east, rather than simply committing to spend the money—which is what those opposite did. Let me inform the House, if I may, of exactly how the opposition operated whilst in government. It announced a $4 million commitment—and I use the term very loosely—for a road in the north-east. They did so after no consultation and with heavy strings attached, one of which was that this money was actually contingent on it being matched by the state government. Let us be serious here: 18 months after that hollow and deliberately misleading announcement, that road is no closer to being realised, and yet those on the other side of the House jump up and down when the money is actually going to be spent creating jobs, generating investment and building a sustainable future for the region. I congratulate the industry minister for the substance of these funding packages, and I look forward to working closely with AusIndustry and the local community to see their potential realised.