Liberals urged to take up the fight for jobs at NW summit

The Liberal Government should reinvest $5 million committed to Caterpillar from the Tasmanian Forest Agreement to support the creation of new manufacturing jobs on the North West Coast.

Labor Leader Bryan Green today called on the State Government to commit to real action to support jobs at tomorrow’s manufacturing summit in Burnie.

“The Liberals have put up the white flag and given up on the 280 jobs at Caterpillar without so much as a whimper,” Mr Green said.

“Labor believes these jobs are worth fighting for but the message isn’t getting through to the Liberals here or in Canberra.

Mr Green said if the Government is not interested in lobbying Caterpillar to reverse its decision it should reinvest the $5 million committed to the company as part of the Tasmanian Forest Agreement.

“These funds remain unspent and they should be used to support new manufacturing jobs on the Coast.

“The summit is at the very least an opportunity for the Government to put some concrete initiatives on the table.

“What is the Government prepared to do to ensure high value manufacturing jobs like those at Caterpillar are not lost to the region?

“All we have seen so far is a transition taskforce which has only met once since Caterpillar announced it was moving these jobs off-shore.

“Brett Whiteley has feigned ‘anger’ at the company’s decision, Jeremy Rockliff has expressed ‘regret’ and we’ve heard nothing at all from his fellow Liberal Braddon colleagues.

“Jobs on the North-West and West Coasts are going out the back door and we can’t just sit back and let it happen.”
Bryan Green MP Labor Leader