Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has asked trucking magnate Lindsay Fox and former union leader Bill Kelty to advise business owners and communities about saving and creating jobs as the Government braces for a surge in unemployment in the coming months.
Kelty and Fox will spearhead a $20.8 million program designed to lift employment in Australia’s seven highest unemployment regions, including south eastern Melbourne, Western Sydney, south east Queensland, north and west Adelaide and northern Tasmania.
“I want Lindsay to be able to advise employers in disadvantaged communities on practical ways they can keep their workers, and even take on new apprentices and employees,” Rudd said yesterday.
This is not the first time a prime minister has called on Kelty and Fox to lead a jobs crusade. Back in the depths of the 1990s recession, then prime minster Paul Keating asked the pair to travel the country trying to stimulate employment.
Fox, who owns trucking empire Linfox, Victoria’s Avalon Airport and luxury car dealerships, is currently overseas and could not be contacted for comment this morning.
While Fox declared two weeks ago the economy was in recession, he was quick to point out that business can grow in downturns, claiming that in the first downturn he faced as a business owner, he doubled his trucking fleet – from one truck to two.
“The best way to attack it is to get up and have a go,” he told reporters.
“It’s incredible what you can do when you believe you can work through it. This is why it’s tremendously important to work with the Government, with friends and help people.
“This is the time you put your hand up to help, this is the time you put yourself out to help. If all of Australia does that, we’ll get through it easy.”
The $20.8 million program will also fund the deployment of local employment co-ordinators, who will work with business owners, local governments and community groups to maximise local job and training opportunities.
Rudd’s local employment plan was part of a $950 million “jobs fund” announced yesterday to bolster training and education programs and create jobs through local infrastructure projects.
The bulk of the $950 million had already been announced, although there was $150 million which has been set aside for “innovative social enterprises” such as programs run in conjunction with community and charity groups.
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James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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