Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was a year ago that I stood in this place to talk about how important a decision it was for Geelong, back in 2013, that the NDIA would be based in Geelong. It was a difficult time for our city. Ford had just decided to stop building cars in Australia, and Alcoa would shortly decide to close its Point Henry smelter. The Labor government knew the challenges faced by our city, and we had a Prime Minister who knew that the decisions that that government made could make a real difference. That's why the Labor government created the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund, which has delivered almost $30 million and over 850 jobs in our community. That's why the Labor government built the Geelong Ring Road, funded the Regional Rail Link and invested in Geelong's stadium, library and heritage centre development. That's why the national headquarters of the NDIA is based in Geelong, bringing 450 jobs and a new building that is changing Geelong's skyline as we speak. That's what it looks like when you have a government that listens to community needs and does the work to address those needs.

A year ago, in that speech, I talked about how important it was that the leadership of the NDIA be based in Geelong. At that time, the CEO of the NDIA had indicated, in Senate estimates, that he was spending about a day a week in Geelong—that's all. There were unconvincing answers about where the senior leadership of the NDIA were based. It was made clear that the NDIA's actuary was based in Sydney. A year later, exactly what's happened in terms of where the senior leadership of the NDIA are based and whether they're based in Geelong remains unclear.

The member for Corangamite has a role here. She is yet to advocate for and win a single notable project for our region. She stoked people's hopes on Land 400 and let them down. It was false-hope peddling of the worst kind. In the lead-up to the last federal election, there was a $20 million announcement—of what, we were not sure. After the election, that morphed into the idea of a city deal. There was an announcement earlier this year with no actual substance. But then the state government supported $150 million worth of projects under the city deal. When the Shorten Labor opposition proposed through its city partnership program that it would support those projects, creating almost a thousand jobs in the Geelong region, the member for Corangamite appeared to walk away from it. The member for Corangamite will go to the next election promising the same city deal she promised at the last one, with no progress being made. Not only has she done that but she has been part of a government that has made decisions that have made life in Geelong harder—a massive loss of manufacturing jobs and, just when people need it, attacking the social safety net that people require.

On the question of the NDIA, the member for Corangamite has no excuses. There is no state Labor government or federal colleagues to shift blame to. I know that she's part of a government which has failed to recognise that our community exists but, in this instance, she has ministerial responsibility for this—no fudging, no-one else to blame. It's time that she made sure that the NDIA leadership are based in Geelong.