Time to Start Talking the Victorian Economy Up
People who continually talk down the economy are attacking
the opportunities of people seeking jobs.
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Tony
De Domenico Executive Director UDIA Victoria |
The
head of one Victoria's largest industry bodies today warned the continual talking
down of the Victorian economy would cost more jobs and it is time to start taking
a more positive attitude to the Victorian economy.
Tony De Domenico,
Executive Director of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Victoria
said, "The series of announcements by companies leaving or scaling back in
Victoria involving thousands of jobs, in many circumstances came with a time lapse
of at least a year or in some cases two.
"This
is not to ignore the trauma and stress caused by these announcements, but the
best thing collectively industry, the government and the community can do to help
people is to promote confidence in the economy to create more jobs."
Mr. De Domenico said,
the time lapse also provided time for a major investigation as to how major plants
such as Ford, Holden and Toyota could be re-purposed to provide facilities that
could produce new manufacturing or economic activities.
"In Victoria
the development industry directly employs around 310,000 full time employees,
contributes around 12 per cent of the state's gross domestic product and contributes
$4.6 billion in taxes to all tiers of government.
"Currently the
industry is in the recovery mode and it will take some time to return to its peak,
however, the current activity is providing a solid framework of economic activity
with thousands of land allotments under production and thousands of new homes
being built.
"In areas like
Geelong, hit hard by some of the closure announcements, suburbs such as Armstrong
Creek and other developments are providing economic activity which is also taking
place in regional areas such as Ballarat and Bendigo."
Mr. De Domenico said,
"the development industry is a major driver of small businesses and has a
domino effect with every new home stimulating the white goods and services industries.
"The
bottom line is the people who continually talk down the economy are attacking
the opportunities for people seeking jobs by sapping confidence from the economy,"
Mr. De Domenico said.
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