By Casey Neill
It’s not only Bombardier hoping for a new tram order in the May State Budget.
Committee for Dandenong’s Jill Walsh said a new tram order would keep the Dandenong manufacturer going with a level of confidence to sustain and grow highly skilled jobs in the region.
“It is vital for the tram extension and it needs to be a substantive number,” she said.
“It needs to keep that site alive.”
Ms Walsh is a partner at Actco-Pickering Metal Industries in Dandenong South, which is a major supplier of welded components for the trams.
“We rely on that ongoing work to keep our skilled workforce engaged and to keep employing apprentices and so on,” she said.
South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) executive officer Adrian Boden said an order for more rolling stock from Bombardier would flow on to the manufacturer’s supply base.
“If the work at Bombardier dries up, then the position of the supply base across the South-East would be critical,” he said.
During a visit to Bombardier on 21 March, Premier Daniel Andrews said the final 20 E-Class trams in the State Government’s 70-tram order would be finished by the end of June next year.
“There’s a State Budget in just a few weeks’ time, and if everyone is just patient, I know a really strong future for this business, a strong future for these workers and the outstanding quality product that they have been turning out and will continue to for many, many years to come,” he said.
“Bombardier are actually exceeding the local content requirements that we wrote into the contract, creating jobs and skills and opportunities along the way and creating a much better experience for the travelling public.
“You can’t get a better outcome than that.”
Mr Andrews inspected the 51st E-Class tram to roll off the production line. It was the first of a $295 million State Government order for 20 trams, made in 2015 and following its previous order for 50 trams.
“This project is 500 jobs. That’s the best way to look at this,” Mr Andrews said.
“Five hundred livelihoods depend on these orders.”
