Labor rail plan for local work

A FEDERAL Labor plan aimed at getting more rail infrastructure made in Australia would mean more jobs and work in Bendigo, according to MP Lisa Chesters.

Last week the local member said Labor’s National Rail Manufacturing Plan would prioritise businesses like the Bendigo Rail Workshop, which in the past saw its workforce reduced to just eight people on the shop floor.

“Today, they’re back up to close to 100 and how they’ve got there is no accident,” Ms Chesters said.

“It’s because there was a prioritisation at the state level through the State Labor Government to do maintenance and refurbishment work of our rail here in Australia, in Victoria, and Bendigo has benefited from that.”

Ms Chesters said the national rail plan would build on the State Government’s work by establishing an Office of National Rail Industry Coordination to put Australia-based building and maintenance of rail infrastructure first.

The plan would also mandate local apprenticeships for rail contracts.

“Our local manufacturers are happy to compete against other Australian manufacturers, making sure that it’s a fair market but we’ve got to set rules in place,” Ms Chesters said.

“These are Australian taxpayers’ dollars, we want to skill up the next generation… and we want to make sure that that work comes here.”

Assistant national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, Glenn Thompson, said the group had been lobbying both major parties for a rail industry plan.

“We have been talking to Labor and for that matter we have been trying to talk to the [Federal] Government but we knock on their doors and no one’s home, to be frank,” he said.

“This plan gives… employers like Bendigo Rail Workshop certainty to invest in people, jobs, infrastructure and knowing that they’ve got the opportunity for long term contracts.”

AMWU representative for the workshop, Darren Thompson, said the plan was “fantastic” for the site and would mean job security for workers.

“More rolling stock means there’s more chance of us winning tenders for the company and that means we’ve got security of work and we can go home at night and sleep well because we know that we’ve got two or three years work ahead of us, which we don’t always have,” he said.

“We’ve got a fairly broad group of skills here, we’ve made our own locos from the ground up so we can do anything, really.”