Regional Development Australia Hunter’s participation in the Smart Specialisation program will help tackle unemployment, Paterson MP Bob Baldwin has told federal parliament.
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Mr Baldwin said the Hunter Valley’s general unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent was higher than the NSW and national average.
He said the Smart Specialisation program, launched in Canberra last week, would help transition the Hunter’s economy.
The program is a framework used in the European Union to drive economic change by considering capabilities and opportunities.
“This is the first of its kind being delivered in Australia,” Mr Baldwin said.
“I congratulate the board in particular for their management, investigation and development of this process.
“As we transition to a new economy, we have to get things right. We have to develop innovation, investment, infrastructure and open markets.”
Mr Baldwin said reasons behind rising unemployment in the Hunter included the end of the mining boom and the closure of several companies in recent years.
“Sandvik had invested $50 million to open a new facility at Heatherbrae in 2012, with 600 people and lots of apprentices,” he said.
“By May 2013, it was losing workers, cutting 43. In 2013, another 100 jobs were gone.
“The Kurri Hydro site, which employed 500 directly and around another 1000 people indirectly, also closed in 2012. There has been a massive downturn.
“There was the great promise that the Hunter Economic Zone would create 10,000 jobs with $2 billion worth of investment.
“Sadly, due to some planning issues, that has not come to fruition. I think there is one company there, Ullrich Aluminium, and a little power generation plant. More needs to be done.”
Mr Baldwin said innovation would be the key to helping the region’s economy transition in the wake of the mining boom.
He said the closure of BHP in the 1990s was a serious economic challenge that the Hunter overcame.
“Some of the old jobs are gone,” he said.
“With the downturn in the mining industry over 10,000 jobs have gone from our region and that has had a massive impact.
“But we need to work collaboratively with the councils, the state government and the federal government – all the departments coming together to try to work towards building a solution. We did it after BHP closed the doors.
“We reinvented the region with advanced medical research facilities and with a new and reinvigorated University of Newcastle, which took on new curriculum and rebuilt, redeveloped and retired debt.”
