Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (17:09:04) — (15 038) My adjournment request is to the Minister for Suburban Development. The action I seek is that she coordinate a response to the Revitalising Broadmeadows plan. This has now become a matter of urgency with the announcement today by the Ford Motor Company that they will be putting up for sale 40 hectares of the iconic site in Broadmeadows. This is vital to become a new landmark for jobs of the future and a hub for innovation where jobs and growth are needed most.

I specifically use that phrase because I want to remind the Australian government that they had an unspent $1.324 billion from the automotive transformation scheme. I have been lobbying them to say how much of that they will reinvest in Melbourne's north, where it is needed most, and to honour their commitment that they govern for everyone. We have seen that Adelaide got billions of dollars for their loss of the auto industry, and yet Melbourne's north was treated, if I could categorise it, with managed decline. We saw that happen under the Thatcher government in England's north in the 1980s, and that led to social catastrophe.

I want to thank the Andrews Labor government for its commitment in establishing the Broadmeadows Revitalisation Board, which I had the privilege to chair, and all of the work that has been done with that, reporting directly to the Minister for Suburban Development and the Minister for Industry and Employment. What we really have is an opportunity to look at how we can coordinate the three tiers of government, business and civil society to come up with another landmark for jobs for the 21st century and what the industry should be.

I have referenced that we should look at La Trobe University or RMIT University relocating innovation from these academies onto this site, because that would add value to what Ford has already done there as well. So even though the assembly lines have fallen silent, Ford have reinvested hundreds of millions of dollars, making this their innovation headquarters and leading centre for the Asia-Pacific region.

Here is a wonderful opportunity to have mutual obligation and all that means from the Australia government to actually invest where we can deliver a great result. A part of that should also be city deals for Melbourne's north and Melbourne's west, because both will soon have populations larger than Adelaide and provide much better opportunities than the city deal that was given to Sydney's west. Here is an opportunity, with a new Prime Minister, to show that he can deliver in Victoria and help to readdress that imbalance on infrastructure and actually deliver where jobs and growth are needed most.