On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan and Federal Member for La Trobe Laura Smyth visited AMWU members at Kenworth trucks in Bayswater.

Their visit came two months after the release of polling by the AMWU that showed voters in manufacturing heartlands in Melbourne and Adelaide wanted the Federal Government to invest more in the sector.
Mr Swan stressed the Government’s committment to the sector:

“What we’ve seen today is what Australians can do when they get their market right, when they get their manufacturing right, when they get their training right. Mining boom mark II has a very big investment pipeline and what it’s going to mean is not just more jobs directly in mining but more jobs which are created in industries which service the mining industry, and the transport industry services the mining industry and trucks like those here today are going to be in even bigger demand as we go forward.”