RE: Review of Regional Economic Development Strategy

UNCLASSIFIED

13April2015

Mr John Brumby

Chair,ExternalAdvisoryBoard

Regional EconomicDevelopment StrategyReview

Department ofEconomicDevelopment,Jobs,Transportand ResourcesViaemail:

DearMr Brumby,

RE: Review of Regional Economic Development Strategy

Onbehalf oftheVictorianTradesHall Council(VTHC),I would liketo makeasubmissiontotheabovereview.TheVTHCwelcomesthisimportantreviewandthanks theBoard in advancefortheirwork.

TheVTHCrepresents40unions andalmost400,000union membersacrossVictoria.Therearealso eightregionaltradesand labourcouncilsacrossVictoriarepresentingBallarat,Bendigo,Geelong,Gippsland (Morwell), Goulburn Valley(Shepparton),North-EastBorder(Wodonga),South-West(Portland)and Sunraysia(Mildura).

The VTHCwelcomesthereview’sfocuson regionalgrowthandjobcreation.Developmentof regionalVictoriais criticalforthe future ofourstate asa whole. Itis theopinionof theVTHCthatthisreview, in particular,should becommittedtojobsthatprovidesafe,ongoing andsecureworktoVictorians.VTHCbelieves alljobscreatedshould be newjobsnotsimplytransferredfrom elsewhereinthestate,andall jobsshould besecureand permanent.

As you would beaware,unemploymentin regionalareasremainsconsistentlyabove thestateaveragewithfiguresof up to 10.5%inGeelong and10.2%inBendigoreportedduring themonthsof JulyandAugust2014bytheAustralianBureau ofStatistics(ABS).Youthregionalunemployment isevenhigher thanthis,with theBrotherhoodof StLaurencelabelling theHumeregion (Goulburn Valley,Wodonga andWangaratta)a ‘hotspot’withyouthunemploymentat17.5%. Asystematicand coordinated jobsagendaisclearlyneeded for regionalVictoria.

With respect,theVTHCwould like to makefourrecommendationstotheExternalAdvisoryBoard regarding thisreview.

Firstly,thatworkingwith regionally-baseduniversities to identifyopportunities forfutureindustriesandjob growthsuch asthenewmanufacturing,medicalresearchand services aswell as intherenewableenergysectorand ‘creativeindustrieshubs’is invaluable,andthestategovernmentshouldsupportand fund theseinitiatives.

Further, the keyrole of TAFEs in regionalareasshouldberecognised andthereshouldbe a renewed commitmenttopriorityfunding and fullysupporting TAFEs, after they wereabandonedby the previousCoalition government.VTHChasmade a submission to the VET fundingreview and thiscan be madeavailable tothe Board if required.

Secondly, the VTHC recognises the importantrole of government procurementand local content provisions;forexample, the 50%localcontent minimum in theCranbourne-PakenhamLineproject as announcedrecently by the MinisterforPublicTransportand the Treasurer. Recommendations to thestategovernmentcementing theircommitment to localcontent and localprocurement is key to a jobsagendaforregionalVictoria.

It is the opinion of VTHC that procurement is not simply about ‘best price’, but more specifically ‘best value’ which takes into consideration value for money, quality of product,securing local jobs(reducing welfaresupportcostsandincreasing tax revenue) as wellas retaining and developing local skillsandknowledge(ratherthansending thisexperienceoffshore).

Thirdly,theVTHC would alsoliketodrawto the attention of thereviewthe decline of theautoindustry. A jobsand employment crisis is imminent, with the potential to lead our stateinto a recession, and immediateaction needstobe taken. We argue that a ‘whole of government’ approach,bringing together the relevantministers and governmentdepartments, is neededto insurethoseworkersmaderedundantover the coming years are providedwithrelevantand quality trainingleading to genuineand secure jobs. A failureto do so may placeVictoria underseverefinancial pressure.

Finally,thatlocalinputand consultation betweenregionaltradehalls,localcouncilsand thebusinesscommunity as part of regular,localgovernment economicforums is essentialand should beactivelyencouraged.

TheVTHCwould like to thankyou for theopportunity to submit to thisreview.

Regards,

Luke Hilakari

Secretary

LH:DB

Ref: 91.15

CC via email:

Ms JaalaPulford,MinisterforRegionalDevelopment

UNCLASSIFIED

54 VictoriaStreet, CarltonSouth, 3053, Telephone: 03 96593511