Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about our government's strong commitment to jobs, growth and infrastructure in the Corangamite electorate which I so proudly represent. In doing so, I also wish to correct the record about some reckless and untruthful statements made by the member for Corio. It is one thing to engage in a contest of ideas across the political divide. It is quite another thing to mislead the people of Geelong, as the member for Corio continues to do, mostly recently in yesterday's Geelong Advertiser.

Yesterday, in a regular column we write together, the member for Corio asserted we still have not had one single dollar from the federal government to help Alcoa workers find another job. This is blatantly untrue but, as we have seen so often from Labor, they do not let the facts get in the way of their story. Our government has a wide range of programs to assist our co-workers as well as all workers in Geelong and across Corangamite. That is the difference. We do not pick favourites. Our policies are there to assist all workers, including the many hundreds of workers from Alcoa's supply chain about whom the member for Corio seems to have completely forgotten. There are 110 companies supplying goods and services to Alcoa, and I say they matter too, along with the many hundreds of workers who lost jobs under the previous federal Labor government, at Ford, Boral, Target, Qantas and Fonterra, and that does not include the many other hundreds of employees in small business that you never hear Labor talk about.

Alcoa's decision to close is terrible. I have been a very strong critic of Alcoa's decision not to give its workforce enough notice, and it is mystifying that the member for Corio has not spoken out on such an important issue. Our government negotiated with Alcoa to contribute $9 million to its Point Henry workforce at this very difficult time, $5 million to the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund, and $4 million for skills and retraining. Full credit to Alcoa for making this investment, which will help create the jobs of the future in advanced manufacturing and other new industries, and of course help their workforce directly.

A number of weeks ago, I also announced a half-million-dollar Geelong jobs package, which will see us roll out a range of local employment programs to assist Alcoa workers and Alcoa's supply chain. We recently contributed $50,000 to the Geelong Jobs Fair, which provided direct assistance to Alcoa workers, some of whom I met on the day. This was such a great success that I am pushing for another jobs fair next year. We have a very strong commitment to the broader economy in terms of growing jobs: our $155 million growth fund and $3 billion to the East West Link, another project that Labor is opposing. That will deliver 6,000 jobs and that is extremely good for Alcoa workers.