Victorian Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou has slammed the Abbott government’s record on encouraging entrepreneurs and business investors.
Talking to Melbourne’s Northern Star Weekly, the federal member for Calwell said much-needed innovation support for the Broadmeadows region had been weakened by the Abbott government’s newly-introduced Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Program (EIP).
“With less than half the funding of the previous programs, EIP has no hope of achieving even half the success of the innovative programs it’s replacing,” she said.
With 26 companies in Ms Vamvakinou’s electorate having previously been awarded more than $350,000 in grants to improve their business performance, she said that the the Abbott government had “changed the rules and those companies are no longer eligible to apply for assistance.”
Ms Vamvakinou added the government had put thousands of jobs at risk by cutting its support for innovation, small business and start-ups, and by abandoning advanced technology companies and emerging industries.
“The immediate and urgent question is: what now for hundreds of locals who have lost their jobs and livelihoods,” she said.
“More importantly, where are the new jobs?”
Ms Vamvakinou is critical of both the state and federal governments’ inaction over the demise of the Victorian car industry.
“The Labor government had a plan to support the manufacturing industry in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs,” she said.
“When Labor was in government, we provided over $20 million of assistance in the north-western suburbs, [for companies] such as Abcor, Statcar and Venture DMG in Campbellfield, Nexteer Automotive in Somerton, and Prima Plastics and Tooling in Broadmeadows.
“Now the Abbot government plans to rip out over $1 billion, which spells devastation for the region’s auto component manufacturers.”
Shadow Innovation and Industry Minister Senator Kim Carr also weighed into the debate, describing the Federal Coalition’s approach as “short-sighted…from a government that harps on about ‘jobs of the future’ but has absolutely no idea of how to create them.”
A spokesperson for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said the new $484.2 million EIP would bring research and business together to commercialise home-grown ideas and equip small to medium enterprises with skills to change and expand.
“While Australian manufacturing is transforming, particularly in traditional industry hubs like Geelong and north [of] Melbourne, these changes present opportunities as well as challenges,” she said.
Source: Northern Star Weekly