Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (10:06): I am advocating for Broadmeadows to be the prototype for economic recovery and revitalisation, and we have a unique opportunity that has now come together with assets and how we get to opportunity from adversity.

Here are the key things: we have attracted a $500 million investor into the two Ford sites, and what he wants to do in Broadmeadows is use technology for new industries and jobs. That is the first critical point. Then we have Hume City Council boasting $200 million in savings. Now is the time to invest at record low interest rates, and I will be trying to bring all this together as chair of the Broadmeadows Revitalisation Board and really want it to be Broadmeadows Revitalisation Board 4.0 to really focus on the jobs.

We have the unity ticket nationally to look at what is our sovereign risk, what is the independence that we have in our supply chains. The Ford Motor Company is manufacturing 100 000 face masks right now to fight the coronavirus. We have CSL, one of our leading companies there, manufacturing life-saving blood plasma as well.

I think that now is the opportunity to look at not just a redevelopment zone but maybe a free trade zone, to actually look at how we attract new industries and make this the hub for the new jobs of the future to deliver national sovereignty, independence and opportunity from adversity.