Premier Jay Weatherill has released the State Government’s response to the closure of Holden’s Elizabeth plant and the challenges facing the community as a result of Holden’s decision.

Our Jobs Plan – includes a State Government commitment of $60 million over four years towards 14 initiatives to prepare South Australia for Holden’s closure in 2017. The Federal Government is being asked to commit $330 million to support South Australia in these effortsSupporting displaced workers by: 

– Introducing new programs that will re-skill and re-employ workers affected by GM Holden’s closure 

Supporting affected communities by:

– An employment strategy for northern Adelaide, attracting new growth industries and maintaining public assets
– A Community Building Fund to invest in urban regeneration and local projects

Supporting restructuring of the automotive industry by:
– Expanding the Automotive Diversification Program to help automotive supply businesses to find alternative markets and opportunities
– Helping about 200 companies providing up to 5500 jobs to diversify from the automotive supply chain over the next four years
– Assisting the Industry Capability Network to manage the impact of firm closures
– Reviewing the future use of the GM Holden plant and site

Accelerating advanced manufacturing by:
– Developing industry roadmaps for new industries to support economic diversification
– Supporting new smart specialisation clusters and precincts where future industries can work together to innovate, create jobs and secure export growth
– Providing new Business Transformation Vouchers of up to $50,000 to support about 200 small and medium enterprises to tap into expert advice that will help their business to grow and diversify
– Expanding the Manufacturing Leaders Network to expose manufacturers to global trends, expertise and knowledge about high performance manufacturing

Creating new jobs by:
– Establishing a new Jobs Acceleration Fund to assist businesses to invest in new economic activity that creates jobs in South Australia
– Supporting local entrepreneurs to turn good ideas into successful ventures through start-up initiatives

Accelerating infrastructure projects to create jobs by: – Working with the Australian Government to bring forward high priority infrastructure projects including:

• the Torrens to Torrens and South Road Darlington projects;
• the northern connector;
• Eyre and Yorke Peninsula port infrastructure;
• sealing the Strzelecki Track;
• reinstating funding to upgrade the main access road into the APY Lands;
• upgrading Kingscote Airport;
• constructing the Mt Barker interchanges;
• accelerating deployment of the National Broadband network.
• See full Media Release HERE