Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows)

Creating Opportunity: Postcodes of Hope is a strategy for economic and cultural development, delivering results for Victoria. The vision and plan published in 2016 inspired an investor, by his account, to commit more than $500 million for new industries and jobs at the Ford Motor Company’s forlorn sites in Broadmeadows and Geelong, following the demise of Australia’s once proud automotive industry. Similar advocacy helped secure overwhelming community support from town hall meetings to an Australian government election commitment to city deals for Melbourne’s north-west and south-east.

Victoria’s only prior city deal will inject $370 million into Geelong and the broader Great Ocean Road region, so the promised deals for two major metropolitan regions would be expected to add greater value. This is why I continue to advocate that these deals drive economic development. I want to thank everyone for bipartisan support.

ALP conferences voted for initiatives to assist blue-collar communities struggling through deindustrialisation. The Business Council of Australia praised the leadership, after accepting my invitation to bring its Strong Australia conference to Broadmeadows, a collaboration that inspired investments for new industries and jobs where they are needed most. Other initiatives stand ready to be introduced. Affordable housing is crucial. The proposal features a mechanism to harness investment from superannuation funds.

Addressing the social impacts of inequality is vital. Established results show inequality leads to higher crime, health problems and mental illness, combined with lower education and life expectancy. Mutual obligation demands a coordinated strategy between governments to turn adversity into opportunity.

Redevelopment zones are essential to provide incentives to trigger private sector investments to increase jobs, growth and productivity, especially in postcodes of disadvantage.

Fast-tracking opportunities for lifelong learning, local jobs for local people and building more infrastructure are required.

Being smarter on crime, how we invest to prevent crime, particularly in postcodes of disadvantage, is critical. Such a shift requires focusing more on causes and place-based disadvantage, given that half Victoria’s prisoners come from only 6 per cent of postcodes. The law and order debate must rise above endless loop arguments over which political party is supposedly tougher on crime to a coordinated strategy that is smarter on crime. While some crimes are so heinous perpetrators should never be released, most prisoners are illiterate.

I will continue to report to Parliament on behalf of the truest believers, whose voices are rarely heard and have little power, so they are not forgotten.