300,000 jobs if re-elected, says Labor

Some 300,000 jobs will be created in Victoria over the next five years if the Labor
government is re-elected, Premier John Brumby has promised.
But the premier admits jobs growth in the state will soften over the next few years
due to a dip in the rate of population growth and a soaring Australian dollar.
In a bid to trumpet the government's economic credentials on the day of his
televised debate with Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, Mr Brumby pledged $20 million
in measures to secure jobs in the manufacturing industry.
"If we are re-elected on November 27, our government will create 300,000 new jobs in
Victoria over the next five years," he told reporters at Marand Precision
Engineering in Moorabbin on Friday.
"In many ways the single most important issue for our state in the years ahead is
who is going to keep the jobs coming to Victoria."
The premier did not provide a breakdown of how many of the promised new jobs would
be full-time and part-time positions.
Over the last five years there has been an average of about 70,000 jobs created each
year, he said.
"Taking into account slightly slower population growth than we've had in the last
few years, (the) dollar is higher ... I don't think we will see the sort of 70,000
that we've seen in recent years," Mr Brumby said.
He said a re-elected Labor government would spend $5.7 million to establish a new
research centre for electric cars to be called the Victorian Electrification,
Capability, Technology Research Centre.
"A big part of this commitment today is to establish Melbourne, to establish
Victoria as ... the electric car capital of Australia."
Australian Industry Group Victorian director Tim Piper said the strong dollar was
making life tough for the state's manufacturing sector, singling out the automotive
and defence industries.
"The dollar is having a significant impact," he told AAP.
"When you are having to compete in overseas nations with the parity of the dollar it
makes life difficult."
Opposition scrutiny of government spokesman David Davis said manufacturing jobs in
Victoria had fallen by more than 52,000 since 2000.
"Exports in Victoria have fallen from 20 per cent of national exports down to 8.7
per cent of national exports," he told reporters.
"That is a catastrophic fall.
"He (Mr Brumby) has ignored manufacturing, he has not supported manufacturing, it
has declined under his government and the share of exports going out of Victoria has
fallen significantly."
Mr Brumby said Morand Precision Engineering would expand its operations and would
create 300 new jobs in Geelong.
The company plans to manufacture components for the international Joint Strike
Fighter program, which will replace the current fleet of F-111s.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email is intended for the use of the addressee only. If you receive this email
in error, please delete it immediately. This email may contain information which is
confidential and/or legally privileged. You must not use or disclose the contents of
this email, or add the sender's email address to any database, list or mailing list
unless you are expressly authorised to do so. The statements or views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender and are not those of Australian
Associated Press Pty Ltd (AAP). These statements are not binding on AAP, except
where the sender expressly and with authority, states them to be. AAP is unable to
review the contents of all the email on its system. To the extent permitted by law,
AAP disclaims all liability for any loss or damage caused by the contents of this
email. www.aap.com.au