An end to privatisation, a boost to TAFE training and jobs for the region were the big ticket items when the big red bus rolled through Lithgow on Friday, February 22 with visiting NSW Labor representatives keen to sell their vision for Lithgow's future.
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Visiting Labor deputy leader Penny Sharpe MLC and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure Mick Veitch stopped in Queen Elizabeth Park to discuss jobs with Lithgow City Councillors, mayor Ray Thompson and deputy Wayne McAndrew and Country Labor Candidate for Bathurst, Beau Riley.
See Ms Sharpe's statement on jobs for Lithgow here.
Ms Sharpe said a focus for Lithgow would be for people who had lost their jobs to have affordable access to retraining.
"We will make sure that people get access to the training that they need for free, working closely with industry and other partners to make sure that local people can get access to those jobs they are not currently getting," she said.
Mick Veitch, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, said youth unemployment remained a focus, as did the provision for more mature workers.
"Our policies are about making sure young people can get the training they need in the communities in which they were raised and they can get a job in those communities as well," he said.
Candidate Beau Riley weighed in on privatisation of public assets, using the sale of local energy assets as arguments against the practice.
"There will be no more sell-offs [under a Labor Government]. As we've seen with the Wallerawang site, once you've sold it, you then have no more control over what's going to happen with it and we've lost a lot of jobs there, we've also lost a lot of jobs from the Angus mine," he said.
The Labor representatives met with Lithgow City Councillors Wayne McAndrew and Ray Thompson, who said plans to target jobs would be met with their support.
Cr Thompson said, while the delivery of funds for the Lithgow Adventure Park and Zig Zag Railway were welcome, neither project would deliver jobs.
"I'd give it all back for 500 jobs," he said.
Cr Wayne McAndrew called for "genuine, good, long-term jobs that result in a boost for our economy and a boost for our community".
"We need to replace if we can 600 jobs - permanent, full time jobs - that we've lost. I'm not counting the flow on effect to suppliers, providers and everything else," he said.
"Council has tried to look at other alternatives. We lobbied hard - we became aware that the railway workshop, the new one, was going to Dubbo, when we've got a perfectly good site here in Lithgow. We were a depot for NSW Rail… We never even got a look in, an opportunity to say we think we should have it in Lithgow.
"Of all the communities in the Bathurst electorate, it's this part that is really struggling with jobs."
Kirsty Horton
A journalist with 15 years of experience, Kirsty Horton has been the editor of the Lithgow Mercury newspaper and a journalist for mastheads including the Great Lakes Advocate, Nambucca Guardian News and Moree Champion. She is now a member of ACM's features and special publications team.
A journalist with 15 years of experience, Kirsty Horton has been the editor of the Lithgow Mercury newspaper and a journalist for mastheads including the Great Lakes Advocate, Nambucca Guardian News and Moree Champion. She is now a member of ACM's features and special publications team.
