Premier Denis Napthine is pleading with the Abbott government to ''bring forward'' Commonwealth infrastructure funding to offset the pain caused by the looming end of manufacturing by Holden. Dr Napthine revealed before a meeting of federal cabinet on Monday evening to discuss the car industry crisis he has been pushing for several ''significant'' yet-to-be announced infrastructure projects for Victoria, potentially including a second stage of the east-west link connecting the Tullamarine Freeway to the Western Ring Road, the Metro rail project and public transport improvements.

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I can't help predicting we have the perfect storm approaching Australia.  In my lifetime I have never seen a situation like this.  Manufacturing is quitting Australia and the Government has a ballooning debt situation having made all sorts of promises to the electorate prior to the last election.  

Napthine now appears to be playing the freight card in an attempt to get the metro rail tunnel funding up.

Mr Abbott has repeatedly ruled out Commonwealth funding for commuter rail projects, saying the government should ''stick to its knitting'' and focus on roads. During the election campaign, he said he would withdraw funding set aside to start work on Melbourne's Metro rail - a tunnel from South Kensington to South Yarra that would allow an extra 20,000 passengers in peak hour.

Given the Holden crisis, Victoria will urge Mr Abbott to reconsider his refusal to fund the project, with Dr Napthine insisting it would boost regional and freight services, adding V/Line capacity to Gippsland and allowing a link to the expanded Port of Hastings.

How will this work?

With BAE systems at Williamstown now looking for work after 2015 and calling on the federal government, is it not possible for these large manufacturers to acquire work from overseas countries to be built here then exported?  Why do we need to rely on Australia for the work?

Why not undertake the Geelong-Ballarat-Bendigo Rail Revival and pend some money in Regional Victoria.  Why do all the jobs needs to be created in Melbourne?

The Perfect Storm

Regards
Brian

How will this work?

With BAE systems at Williamstown now looking for work after 2015 and calling on the federal government, is it not possible for these large manufacturers to acquire work from overseas countries to be built here then exported?  Why do we need to rely on Australia for the work?

Regards
Brian

The Commonwealth Government through the Australian Defence Force, Is the only customer who will contract defence projects to be built/made In Australia (New Zealand NZDF also have In the past)

Why

The Australian way of making/building defence projects Is way too costly, slow and plain Inefficient compared with other Countries that are World leaders In efficiency, cost control, etc.


A few years ago the Port of Melbourne obtained a quote off BAE Systems to build a new tug boat, at Williamstown Shipyard.
The price of the quote was through the roof compared to major shipyards In South Korea and China, though building could start strait way at Williamstown, the customer opted to wait In line for 2 years for an Asian Shipyard to build their tug.  

The rules and red tape that goes on at that place Is a joke, all put together by single minded bureaucrats, unions that want much more pay for much less work, old ways of doing things (traditions)

Source: The Age

It all sounds like the USA where the Govt throws money at dodgy defense manufacturers to produce equipment that fails to meet targets (i.e. F-35 fighter).

BTW, you can't really get China to make our boats/planes etc due to the fact they're not exactly an ally.

Talking of the Chinese, they seem to be one's buying up lots of new apartments in inner Melbourne and keeping the construction industry afloat atm.  But if there is no decent public transport investment (ie. airport rail link), then watch that market collapse too due to Melb's growing poor reputation about that.

napthine needs to get his priorities right. freight rail across the country needs investment and it is not all about big cities. country folk need jobs too!

Fund rail to rescue my job, Napthine urges Abbott

There, fixed it.

But we all know it'll never happen as PT is too communist for Tone...

There, fixed it.

But we all know it'll never happen as PT is too communist for Tone...

I don't think Tone is so much the problem (I'll NEVER make a case for him though), it is the morons who voted for him. The pollies only do what they have to so as to be re-elected.
I heard the other day the Libs are stating how bad the next budget is going to be but also announced a billion for road projects in what I think was country NSW and QLD, maybe SA got a mention too. Seems the Motoring Enthusiast Party have got a nice little thankyou from the grubberment.

Even if they look to rail to apparently solve the issue, what exactly does it solve? How can the employees in the car manufacturing industry cross their skills over into the rail industry? It's a heavy manufacturing industry, a slight bigger than a Commodore or Falcon.

Reality is the poor blokes to lose their jobs are going to have a hard time finding new ones, regardless of what Government does.

There's a lot of my favourite topics being touched on in this thread.  At the risk of being accused of being really boring/left wing/greenie socialist:

The Commonwealth Government through the Australian Defence Force, Is the only customer who will contract defence projects to be built/made In Australia (New Zealand NZDF also have In the past) Why?

You answered your own question with the rest of that post: It's an employment program.

BTW, you can't really get China to make our boats/planes etc due to the fact they're not exactly an ally.

You're a hundred percent right about this but it's just an ideological problem, not a practical one.  The Chinese could probably build our new warships for a third of the price and they'd probably be much better than the ones we make here.  However we'd be in big trouble from our 'allies' if we did that.  We can sell the Chinese our dirt but we're not allowed to align ourselves strategically to them whatsoever.

Reality is the poor blokes to lose their jobs are going to have a hard time finding new ones, regardless of what Government does.

Adelaide in particular is really hard place to unemployed, highest unemployment for any mainland capital.  They can all sink their packages into investment properties and learn to be baristas; problem solved!