MEMBER for Orange Andrew Gee says the community only needs two of the “bigger” businesses that have expressed interest in moving to Orange under the Central West Jobs Action Plan and the losses from Electrolux will be covered.
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Deputy premier Andrew Stoner announced in May funding would be made available for the jobs plan, which would allocate money to businesses that either relocated to the central west or businesses that would expand to cater for more employees.
The announcement was made after a string of job losses were announced at factories such as Electrolux in Orange and Simplot in Bathurst.
“There has been a positive response so far to businesses seeking to access assistance via the Central West Jobs Action Plan,” Mr Gee said.
“To date the Department of Trade and Investment has met or spoken with quite a few interested businesses. Several have made it past those initial discussions resulting in applications for assistance being received, which are at various stages of assessment.”
Mr Stoner’s office was unable to provide details of how many businesses had applied or how many had been successful, but would release that information soon.
“It takes a huge amount of planning to move a business to the central west. Especially if you’re starting from scratch,” Mr Gee said.
“There are all sorts of issues to get through, including the purchase of land and securing a supply chain. The interested businesses are all at differing stages of advancement in this process.”
Training was also provided to Electrolux employees, paid for by the company and by the state government. So far 425 Electrolux workers have completed a personal transition plan with TAFE and identified their individual training needs.
Of those, 270 have either completed or are enrolled in training.
nicole.kuter@fairfaxmedia.com.au