By Casey Neill
There’s a question mark over thousands of jobs in the south-east after Dandenong manufacturer Bombardier missed out on the state’s single largest train order.
On Monday 12 September the State Government announced that the Evolution Rail consortium – including Downer Rail, CRRC and Plenary – would build 65 new high capacity metro trains (HCMT).
It prompted the south-east business community to encourage lobbying of local MPs and promotion of the region as a key manufacturing centre.
South-east Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) said the decision to award the $2 billion-plus contract to a “foreign, state-owned company” was “a major blow to the local existing supply chain”.
“We are convinced that this is not a good decision for neither the retention of skills in Victoria nor the employment outlook,” the statement said.
“With local content currently at 70 per cent delivered from the south-east suppliers, the decision to move to a company who will reduce this to 60 per cent local content is actually a step backwards.
“The outcomes from this decision will be very similar to the impacts the south-east has already endured from the automotive industry closures.
“Well over 3000 people may be concerned by this decision.”
SEMMA questioned whether the carriages would be supplied from China.
“If this is the case, what then happens to the local supply chain that currently supplies the majority of components for the carriage assemblies?” the statement said.
“How will the government control and monitor a new company achieving the reality of local content promises?”
Committee for Dandenong chairman Gary Castricum said suppliers from the south-east should be a critical partner to achieve the promised 60 per cent local content.
“Bombardier – which directly employs 400 plus staff including a vital engineering team – has 629 local Australian suppliers 45 per cent of which are located in Melbourne’s south-east,” he said.
“Further new-build rail contracts are desperately needed to sustain the south-east’s diversified train manufacturing supply chain.
“We understand that a decision for supply of upgraded regional trains is imminent early next year.”
Mr Castricum said there were many auto component manufacturers in the south-east already hard-hit by the Toyota and Ford factory closures.
He urged local MPs to “stand up and fight for business and employment”.
“The prospect of train manufacturing also going overseas represents a very real threat to many businesses and jobs in the south-east,” he said.
“With the demise of auto manufacture in Australia, it is critical to sustain the heavy rail design and manufacturing capacity that exists in Dandenong and the south-east.”
Greater Dandenong Council’s business group manager Paul Kearsley said the council was calling on the business community to lobby local MPs “to ensure the importance of this region is recognised and rewarded”.
“The news that the contract was awarded to someone outside of Greater Dandenong was extremely disappointing,” he said.
“More work and investment now needs to be done in promoting the industry and the performance of this region.
“We must ensure the supply chain companies receive access to the HCMT contract and Bombardier receives additional contracts for V/Locity trains and the new trams from the State Government.
“This region has the largest number of supply chain companies and we must maintain that status, not only for the benefit of the region but for Victoria as a whole.
“The promotion of this region as a key manufacturing centre for the state is vital at this time.”
Australian Workers’ Union Victorian secretary Ben Davis said that if Bombardier had won the contract “there would have been something like 400 more jobs created than 1000 estimated under the deal with Evolution Rail”.
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) state secretary Steve Dargavel said the decision provided “security and certainty to hundreds of workers and their industry, it also commits to long-term jobs and training opportunities for a new generation of highly-skilled workers”.
The Journal contacted Bombardier but the manufacturer declined to comment.
