Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows)

I was delighted to help secure a reprieve for 400 workers when the Australian Services Union asked me to intervene after Hume City Council announced it was standing down employees due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of the workers are women and the sole income earners for their families according to the union.

Instead of immediate stand downs, agreement was reached to redeploy the staff into meaningful work.

This is particularly important, especially in the network of global learning centres throughout the City of Hume.

These 21st-century community hubs, founded on libraries, have been internationally acclaimed.

Hume City Council went from being criticised on television news to being praised, the result I was seeking through a creative, flexible and collaborative approach.

This is the strategy I won support for more than 20 years ago in founding the global learning village model to help connect the disconnected when Broadmeadows did not even have the cornerstone of civilisation, a public library.

The landmark global learning centre in Broadmeadows, the next version in Craigieburn hailed as the best community library internationally and the new addition recently opened in Sunbury will continue to provide services that benefit the community.

Other initiatives on how to reactivate facilities in a timely and appropriate manner across the municipality are also underway.

This new approach aligns with the Andrews Labor government’s call for Victorian councils not to dismiss or stand down staff during this difficult time.

I also invited Hume City Council to partner the Labor government’s $500 million Working for Victoria Fund to help people who have lost their jobs and ensure local services continue to be delivered for community benefit.

The Victorian and Australian governments have invested record funding to keep people connected to work during this unprecedented crisis.