Mr Pallas (Tarneit) —  I grieve for the people  of Geelong, and I grieve  for the people  of the  western and northern suburbs of Melbourne. I grieve for  the manufacturing workers at Ford, Broadmeadows, whose plight does  not even warrant the immediate attention of the Premier of the state  of  Victoria,  the  Pontius Pilate  of  Victorian politics, a man who would wash his hands of responsibility and spend most of his time trying to work out how he  can exculpate himself from any responsibility to deal with these issues. These are the new forgotten people of the Liberal Party. But they have not been  forgotten so much as abandoned  by this government. They have been abandoned  by  a  government  that  is  in equal measure  arrogant  and deluded. Some 34 000 Victorians have lost their jobs  and joined unemployment queues in this state.

In this Parliament only yesterday we heard the Premier tell us, ‘We have a track record of delivery of more jobs for Geelong’. What is  that record  for Geelong? What has this Premier done  for Geelong? If it is a track record of delivery, it is a dodgy delivery, a Frankston-type  delivery of jobs. Because we know that in the Barwon-western region nearly 2000 more  people have become  unemployed since this government came to office in December 2010. As  jobs are  lost in  Geelong, opportunities  for  the  future are  also  being compromised  and  lost  by this government. We know that 89 trainers at Gordon  TAFE have effectively lost their jobs. This  is an example of a government that is compounding  bad fortune  with bad choices. This government has made choices that work against the interests of people who are trying to get their lives  together, people who should be able to reasonably  expect that  government is  going to  be a force for change  for the better and not intent on effectively absolving itself of responsibility.

When youth unemployment  has reached staggering proportions  — indeed it is the worst in the nation at  21  per cent — what action would you  expect  from this wrong-way government?  This  year  marks the  75th  anniversary of  ‘Wrong  Way’ Corrigan’s infamous flight from New York  to Ireland.  In fact  it is within the next month.  Old ‘Wrong  Way’  took off  in New  York 75  years ago,  supposedly heading  for California,  in an old, beat-up plane.  He claimed  that he  took a wrong turn and headed east instead of west by accident.  The  difference between old  ‘Wrong  Way’ Corrigan and ‘Wrong Way’ Premier Napthine is that whilst  both headed east instead of  west, it only took the  aviator 28 hours to  realise his error.

By  contrast, the vet  from the Western District  would circumnavigate the globe before he would concede, in the face  of the weight of evidence to the contrary, that he  went the wrong way. He went the wrong  way when workers expected to see him in Broadmeadows and Geelong at Ford factories.

He went  to the  New South Wales border, perhaps seeking some form of  political asylum, because this  Premier  could  not  bear  to  bring himself to look these workers in the  eye. He could look Black Caviar in the eye,  through teary eyes, but when  these workers  were  looking  for  their  future  to be  assured by  a government  that could  lend a helping hand and have some  words of  comfort and support and a strategy  for the  future, this  government went missing. It was a missing-in-action government.

Having spent 15 years working in the Australian union movement, I might say that the Premier,  by happenstance, may have bumped into a union member while he  was there.

That this  Premier thinks the amazing  connection made between  organised labour and organised crime is  automatic, is clearly a demonstration that this  Premier is more intent  on  political  attacks  than  he  is  on  his  responsibility of governing  this  great  state.  We  know,  for example, that two years ago  this Premier came out with a thought bubble rather than a plan about creating jobs in Geelong. The people  of Geelong need  substantive action, not posturing  and not promises that come to nothing. He proudly announced in a  media  release  headed ‘Coalition  government’s massive jobs boost  for port of  Geelong’ that bringing the car trade to Geelong would bring thousands of new jobs and $200 million into the local economy, but he was subsequently forced to quietly admit he had got it wrong. A year later he  had  to  admit that the scheme was  not  viable,  as the opposition  had told  him over  and again  in this place.  This was  despite our warnings.

The Premier claimed only yesterday that he had not promised jobs at all and that what  he had promised was a study. The  people of Victoria can sit back and look at the pretend  announcements  of jobs that  will ultimately disappear  like  an apparition  when  the studies fail  to demonstrate job  creation.  The people of Doncaster no doubt understand what an  apparition that creates jobs  looks like; it is the Doncaster rail extension.  There  is also the Rowville rail extension, which is another wondrous apparition of jobs creation that disappeared. This  is a  government  intent  on   stunts,  not  substance,  and   the  people  in  the manufacturing industry in this state deserve a lot better than that.

In the meantime of course in the  Geelong region  we have  had announcements  of enormous  job  losses — jobs  that  are going or under  threat  — at Shell and Holden,  not  to mention Qantas, Alcoa, Toyota, Boral  and  now  Ford.  What  is effectively happening is  we have a government  that refuses to acknowledge  the enormity of the problem. To overcome this problem, what do we see?  A government that is saying, ‘We’ve got a strategy, and our strategy  is today’s stunt’. Some time ago that stunt was the relocation of the vehicle trade.

When substantive issues are put to this government, issues  about which it could actually do something and show confidence to the community, like  looking  at  a serious  analysis  of  the  development  of  the  Bay West port option, when the captains of the freight and logistics industry say it should happen and when the government has  delayed its preferred alternative at Hastings from  8 to 15-plus years, you would have thought the people of Geelong at least deserve to have the arguments about the location of a  proper port — a port capable of handling the state’s  freight  logistics  needs  for  decades to  come  —  considered  in  a substantive way, but that has not happened. What they  hear from this government is, ‘We’ve made our mind up’.

The government has made  its mind  up despite  the advice  of its own department that the Bay West option should be looked at, and  it has hidden reports because it is afraid of what  those reports might say to the public. When the opposition seeks to get access to those documents, what do we hear?

It would cause unnecessary  debate  in  the  community. When the Premier goes to Geelong and  holds  his round table, he  might  want to have  a  debate with the community about  his  plan  to  create  jobs.  This  is  an  issue  of  national significance.  The people of Geelong  deserve a credible  analysis of the issues that are  of substance to  them —  matters that  require a  government of  good intent and genuine hardworking character to sit back and analyse  what they mean for the community.

I represent the electorate  of Tarneit, which borders  the local government area of  Greater  Geelong, and that  community  is also suffering  substantially as a consequence of job  losses.  In fact the  highest  increase in  unemployment  in metropolitan Melbourne has occurred in the local government area of Wyndham, and you can marry that  with what is happening in Geelong at the moment.  The labour market in  the Barwon-western region continued  to deteriorate over  the year to April 2013.

The level  of employment  has fallen, and the unemployment rate has risen by 0.2 per cent. Of even greater concern is  the fact  that the  participation rate  in Geelong has fallen by 1.1  per cent. That means  people are just giving up,  and that is  a  stinging  indictment  of what is happening in this community. Nearly 2000 more  people have  become unemployed in this region over the  term of  this government, and the Premier talks about a good track record  of  delivering jobs in Geelong.

The  facts and the real examples of this government’s indifference put proof  to that lie. Victorians know  that there are 17  000  fewer jobs and 15  000  fewer full-time  jobs in the  manufacturing sector in this  state compared to November 2010.  We have  seen those  jobs disappear.  We know  where they  are. These are highly skilled workers who, more likely than not,  dare I  say, were  members of unions, but they did  not deserve  to be pejoratively dismissed as being part of some sort of covert organised crime type of community.

I wonder what the Premier  will  do every time he meets a worker  in the future. Will  he  entertain in his own  mind the guttersniping we heard  from him at the Liberal  Party  conference  which  effectively  equated  organised  labour  with organised crime? Is that how low we  have fallen in this state,  that we reflect upon the character of organised labour as if it were a one-size-fits-all, lowest common denominator approach?

This is  a  lowest common denominator government that cannot lift its eyes above the  guttersniping that  it participates in to start looking at the needs of the community, which are quite evident and  genuine,  and  deliver  a  jobs plan. It should hold  itself to account to the community and tell the community what  its strategy  is,  whether it is in procurement, whether it is in skills development or whether it  is in recognising that there are communities of disadvantage that require particular assistance and effort — but, no, what we see are thought bubbles and blame shifting from this government.

But  there are many,  even  in  the  Geelong  community,  who  are  prepared  to acknowledge that there is a problem. There are at least some who are prepared to acknowledge that problems do exist in the labour market. Of course we heard from one commentator in our region that:

  In our  region,  thousands  of  jobs  have  been  lost  or  are  under threat.  Manufacturing is in rapid decline …

Who said that? That  was Ms Sarah Henderson, the Liberal Party candidate for the federal seat of Corangamite, in the Geelong Advertiser on 15 April.

This  cannot just be about trying to find a convenient political argument, about one side of politics pointing the finger of blame at the other.

You cannot have a convenient argument at a federal level and an inconvenient one at a  state level. We have heard from our new Treasurer that he does not believe in blame shifting, but that is exactly what this  government is  about. You need to  acknowledge  the  problem.  You  cannot  deal  with  a  problem  unless  you acknowledge that you have  got  one.  At  least  Ms Sarah Henderson, the Liberal candidate for Corangamite, acknowledges that there is a problem,  and as soon as you acknowledge that there is a problem then perhaps something more can be done.

We know that an extra 210 000 people will be living in the Geelong area by 2050. The Minister for Planning says he has a  strategy to  effectively create  80 000 jobs over  that same  period. Let  me put it  another way:  with the  population growing and the way jobs are growing we will have 1 job for every 2.5 new people moving  into  the  area. That is  a  sign  that this is  a  problem  of national significance that the government should recognise.

It should look at substantive proposals about the development of the freight and logistics industry in this area. It should listen to its Department of Planning, Transport and  Local Infrastructure about  these  things. It  should  not create myths, mythologies and nonsense about the capacity to create a port at Bay West.

If the department says the government is right, if the department says it is not feasible to develop ports and freight in the Geelong  area,  let  the government produce  the  department’s reports. Let us see them. We have a grown-up  society here populated,  at least  so far  as the electorate is concerned, by adults who will actually decide whether we  deserve to  be in  government or  even in  this place. Those people  have a right to see what it is  that the government says it knows but  we are not grown up enough to see  or understand. The reality is that this government is hiding secret reports about the viability of port development and freight development in  the Geelong  area, which  could be a great jobs boon for this area.

It will  not hold those reports up for transparent analysis, and that fails  the people of Geelong profoundly.

We  are  seeing time  and  again population growth  effectively outstripping the wellbeing of the  Geelong community. The  Premier needs to recognise  that these are not issues of political partisanship but  issues of substantial moment  that directly  affect the wellbeing  of  manufacturing sector workers  in the Geelong area. The Premier needs to put together  a comprehensive  plan — a plan similar to the one produced by Labor.

See Tim’s speech in Hansard here.