Passenger rail, manufacturing programs promised

Workers from Bendigo, Ballarat and Melbourne were gathered at the Bendigo Rail Workshops for Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters and Victorian Senator Kim Carr’s press conference about passenger rail and manufacturing.

“Right now this rail yard is doing maintenance work on Victorian trains, but I believe we can do more,” Ms Chesters said. 

“There are big contracts coming into our state governments and we should be doing everything we can to ensure that work comes here to Bendigo.”

Mr Carr said one of the aims of the National Passenger Rail Procurement Strategy was to encourage the states to pursue Australian-made procurement when it came to the purchase of rail lines and rolling stock.

He said the strategy was inspired by a Victorian policy.

“I want to see that process pursued around Australia,” Mr Carr said.

“This is taxpayer money, after all, and it is only reasonable that we should be supporting Australian industry, not sending contracts off-shore to Spain as has happened in New South Wales in recent times.”

The $54.2 million Food, Fibre and Advanced Materials Modernisation Grants program also aspires to encourage more investment in Australian jobs and industries. 

“We have a problem in many parts of our manufacturing because people don’t buy Australian,” Mr Carr said. 

He said the grants would encourage businesses to invest in innovation and keeping themselves competitive.

“I like the idea of coordinating rail federally and I like the idea of local procurement and making more jobs in Bendigo, but I don’t actually know enough about it to comment in more detail,” Greens candidate for Bendigo Rosemary Glaisher said. 

Liberal candidate Megan Purcell said the Turnbull government had committed $1.3 billion to the advanced manufacturing sector, “right here in Bendigo.”

“It's great to say you support local manufacturing, but I am concerned that Labor and Lisa Chesters are yet to commit to the Turnbull Liberal government’s Defence White Paper, which secures local jobs and is so important to the advanced manufacturing industry in central Victoria,” she said. 

“I want to make sure that none of our future contracts are put at risk.”

She said V/Line was her top priority where passenger rail was concerned. 

“Our community tells me they're more concerned about unreliable and unacceptable V/Line services locally and that's what I'd like there to be a focus on fixing,” she said.

EARLIER: Labor is ramping up its election campaign with announcements about passenger rail and manufacturing to be made in Bendigo today.

Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters and Victorian Senator Kim Carr are expected to announce a $54.2 million Food, Fibre and Advanced Materials Modernisation Grants program, to be established if Labor is elected on July 2.

The program will match investments by manufacturers in projects to improve the efficiency of their operations and increase investment in new technologies, including energy-efficient capital equipment and low emissions technologies.

The $54.2 million in funding will be made available over four years. 

Manufacturers will be able to access a range of flexible grants of up to $5 million on a matched funding basis. 

Labor is also expected to announce a National Passenger Rail Procurement Strategy, to be developed within the first year of government if Labor is elected.  

The strategy will include recommendations for the next wave of reforms needed to streamline and harmonise rail-based public transport projects. 

Labor will also work with the states to examine the feasibility of establishing a joint federal and state government national public transport authority, to address fragmentation in the sector, maximise opportunities for volume and certainty, as well as innovation for local manufacturers and suppliers.