More job losses in Geelong

Don't you worry JP, Aunty Julia will happily dish out benefits. 

Hasn't she already done that?

Wasn't there a recent announcement to do with NDIS administration/centre being based in Geelong?

I think that there is a danger that the Geelong market may take a hit. Julia will not be in a position to help anyone except her own pension fund

With business closing the perception of a falling employment will be enough to flatten prices. 

Vic's taken bit of a hit over the last few years. I'm not sure it will drop much more unless there's a severe down turn. Generally markets that have seen fairly stiff corrections generate resistance to further declines after a while. I kinda think that's where Vic is at the moment. Having said that I agree with JP in the sense that the Vic market will drift at best but we're more likely to see a shallow decline over the next few years.

I definitely don't see anything significant enough to give the market a lift for some time. It'll be a tough market to make a buck out of.

What I find puzzling is why Julia comes out and offers a $50 million dollar assistance package to retrain 500 Ford workers ($100K to train each person??????), when every week small businesses are closing down with 5 or 10 workers and she and her Labor party couldn't give 2 hoots about forking out money trying to find them new employment and leave them to their own devices.

Sure 500 jobs being lost is a sad event, but why are Ford workers so much more special and getting preferential treatment than the average Joe in the same boat? Smells of hypocrisy and vote buying (though it won't help her).

Cheers

Tom

The Ford situation is not a vote buying situation. I am a Holden worker and I can tell you, I am feeling the Ford situation now more than ever. What the Government is trying to do is assist with career counsellors, re-training options and financial management assistance because the auto manufacturing industry, one of the most important industries to ANY country, is failing here in Australia. It has been on the cards for many years going back past Bob Hawke's days when tariffs were started to be reduced. The thing is out of every other auto manufacturing country in the world, Australia is the only one to not protect its owns backyard. It costs next to nothing to import a vehicle into Australia because of the so called free trade agreement with the rest of the world. That being said, every other country has either changed their minds or reneged on the agreements and because of that for us here in Australia, to export our cars, there are massive tariffs we have to pay, as well as contending with the high dollar. Its just not feasible anymore. It has nothing to do with what Ford, Holden, Toyota or even Mitsubishi have done with their cars over the years. Sure, not every car is to everyones tastes. That plays a massive part in why people buy vehicles. We know that. What we have always done is offer vehicles to the Australian public that are some of the safest on the roads in terms of industry quality tests and cars that are made specifically for Australian conditions. Every car can have a dud in its range. Even expensive cars. They are machines after all. I'm sure most people here would have had a problem vehicle at least once in their life. If you haven't, that's great.

Australia currently has the most diverse range of new vehicles available to its population than any other country in the world. Almost 70 different makes of car. That is a lot of choice for 22.3 million people. In the USA, with 314 million people, they have around 30.

Out of those 70 odd makes of car, all of the Australian made vehicles (Falcon, Commodore, Camry, Aurion and now Cruze and Territory) over the last 15 years have all been consistently in the top 10 vehicles purchased in Australia. So no one can claim that we don't build cars people don't want.

What annoys me the most is when people complain about how much the government seems to subsidise the auto industry. Currenly, the government spends around $9 per head of GDP on the auto industry. That is not a lot of money at all to be complaining about. In the USA, the government spends close to $300 per head of GDP on their auto industry. South Korea, $270 per head of GDP. So really, not only does Australia have the most diverse range of vehicles available to its population, we as car companies are actually pretty much on our own. Its great we have all stayed afloat as long as we have in this environment.

I cannot imagine what it would be like for Australia to not have any manufacturing anymore. We are such an isolated nation, surrounded by a fair bit of water. Just, what if, and its a big what if, something happened to all the relationships the Government has and all of a sudden we didn't have access to buying imports anymore. If we don't have a manufacturing industry here, and i'm not just saying cars now either because we have lost a huge amount of manufacturing capabilities, what would we do? Its a scary thought. Australia needs to be self sustaining.

Sorry for the rant but the media always shows the bad news stuff so unless you are actually involved with the companies themselves, most of you will never know the truth. Never is anything good ever explained via the media and when our CEO's and Managing Directors try to explain the situation, its torn apart by the media again.

I would be really worried about Geelong and the flow on effect the Ford closure will have on the town. I know it will be devastating for the North of Adelaide when the same eventually happens to Holden.

While the closure is unfortunate, it is not correct to presume the entire existence of Geelong hinges on Ford.  There are well in excess of 80,000 jobs in Geelong, and Ford is responsible for only 600 of them.  That is less than 1%.  Additionally I would imagine that many of the skills used in roles at Ford will be transferrable to roles associated with aeroplane maintenance at Avalon Airport as it expands.

Such an interesting post. Thank you.

I much prefer to hear from the horses mouth than believe the media.

Also like to hear good quality discussion on these points and various differing views.

Very interesting.

Thanks Freckle for your comment/response re isolation and how it shouldn't affect Australia. Fair point. We should be ok but still, a horrible thought to be a first world, highly developed country that does not have its own auto manufacturing sector. Say what you like, I don't believe it is a good thing to just let that disappear. I've been in the industry for 14 years now and can see first hand how it gives back to the state and the whole country. Also, quite correct on the flow on effect of job losses in the industry. For every one job loss at a major car factory, there are definitely more heads that go from the smaller feeder businesses. It's a real shame as it is the smaller businesses that ultimately get left behind completely.

The point you made about our challenge in the industry not being tariffs and trade barriers but being robotics. I absolutely do not agree with that. Robotics has been becoming more and more prevalent in our industry yes but not ever have we lost heads because of it. Being upskilled as a tradesman to use the robots has been a good thing for the business and personally. What doesn't change is that as much as robots streamline some processes, they still are not as agile as a human being and the hand work will always still be needed. The reason the car industry is going under is purely political. Certainly since the GFC things have gotten a lot worse and it shows in the number of export programs we have lost because we cannot afford to export cars anymore to certain markets. It's not because they do not want our cars, they just are not prepared to spend mega dollars on our product.

I appreciate all comments on the topic of the car industry. I know it has strayed from the initial post slightly but still indirectly related in that Geelong will most definitely feel the pinch from the Ford closure. I hate listening to the media and politicians because it never truthfully reflects how the car companies are doing. Only how badly they are doing. I work there so I know how we are doing. If you don't work in a car manufacturing company or in the industry itself, you just don't truly know what is going on so comments made as though you do, really hold no actual truth value. You make good points but its mostly just yours and others feelings from the media coverage you see.

After pausing to read through my post before saving, I feel really sad and disappointed about the whole situation. I actually hope some sense prevails and the auto manufacturing sector can be saved but i really doubt it. Buy up your Falcons and Commodores now forum users because these are the last ones going to be available forever.