SHADOW Treasurer Tim Pallas believes it is not too late to save manufacturing in Ararat.
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Mr Pallas visited manufacturer AME Systems, which last year shed 65 jobs, on Wednesday.
“They are reasonably optimistic,” he said.
“It’s true they’ve come down from peak employment of 380 but their expectation is that they will continue to secure work.”
Mr Pallas said AME Systems appreciated that regional manufacturing needed to secure new markets.
“This is a company that’s got state-of-the-art technology and they’re not sitting back, they’re looking for work and looking to grow,” he said.
He said Labor would provide payroll tax rebates to employers who took on young unemployed and recently retrenched workers.
In Labor’s jobs plan released earlier this month, $200 million was promised for a fund for grants for regional businesses.
Mr Pallas said Labor’s separate proposed $200 million future industries fund, which would provide matched grants for businesses specialising in high-growth sectors, might be suitable for Ararat and the Wimmera.
“We’ve identified a number of suitable industries in Horsham and Ararat around food and fibre,” he said.
“We’re also recognising that our renewable energy industries should be encouraged and promoted.”
With a little more than a month until the election, Mr Pallas was in Ararat to try to sell the Opposition’s jobs plan, which has come under fire from Deputy Premier Peter Ryan.
“Labor’s claims it will spend $200 million on regional jobs, $1 billion on regional roads over eight years, and reinstate its token Regional Infrastructure Development Fund are token offerings to disguise huge cuts in the country,” Mr Ryan said.
“Labor steals your wallet then offers you one of your own stolen bank notes as a distraction.”
Mr Pallas said the $200 million for regional jobs was just one element of a wider suite of policies that would help western Victoria.
“Peter Ryan is confusing our $200 million regional industries fund with our regional growth fund and we believe the $500 million offering we’re putting up is only part of our story,” he said.
“Growing infrastructure by making a regional investment fund focused on jobs is a good thing and just on sheer numbers we’re proposing and investing appreciably more than the Coalition,” he said.