Ripple Effects of Tragic Job Losses

Many of you would have seen recent media coverage about job losses in manufacturing in the southern states over the last couple of months.

What we don’t hear so often is the effect that these manufacturing plant closures have on Queensland and on our local area.

It may surprise you to know that there are over 7,000 Queenslanders employed in the automotive manufacturing sector, with more than 500 of them living in the Rankin electorate.

After the closure of Toyota a couple of weeks ago, I rose in Parliament to remind our elected representatives of the pain that these plant closures will have on families in Logan and the rest of Queensland.

But it’s not just the manufacturing sector that has been hit over the last couple of months.

The startling reality is that unemployment all around Australia has ticked up, recently hitting 6 percent – higher than at any point in the Global Financial Crisis.

Unemployment in our area is even higher.

What disappoints me most is that the Abbott Government does not seem to have any plans in place to support the labour market and the families that are vulnerable to job losses.

The Minister for Industry even said about the recent loss of thousands of jobs at Toyota that “it’s not a catastrophe”.

Sadly, for the estimated 55,000 people in car manufacturing who will be facing job losses partly as a result of government inaction, it will be a catastrophe.

The Australian Government needs to find a way to prevent further large-scale job losses, in our community and around Australia. As your local representative, I will continue to stand up for jobs in our area.

Published in the Logan Reporter on February 28, 2014

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