Secure, well-paid jobs will be a key part of Labor’s Better Future for Tasmania.  
 
Labor will invest in the future of Tasmanian jobs and manufacturing – with $26 million pledged to create jobs and ensure Tasmania is a state that makes things.  
 
Over the last decade under the Liberals, 85,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. Australia ranks last in the OECD when it comes to manufacturing self-sufficiency. Our manufacturing sector is less than half the size it was in the 1990s. 
 
Today Labor is announcing new partnerships with local industry to secure existing jobs and support new jobs and opportunities: 

• $5 million to help kick-start LINE Hydrogen’s George Town Project – using co-located solar panels to produce green hydrogen to replace diesel in Tasmanian trucks and busses.  
  • The first stage of the project is set to include hydrogen production and 24 hydrogen trucks that will be leased to industrial partners.  
• $2 million to help expand Costa’s East Davenport Berry Distribution Centre – supporting as many as 140 jobs year-round. 
• $11 million to partner with Ingham’s to implement a carbon zero certified business model – protecting more than 120 local jobs and pioneering sustainable manufacturing in the poultry sector, which can be scaled up across Australia. 
• $2 million to support a feasibility study and early development costs for Westcoast Renewable Energy’s proposed Whaleback Energy Park. 
  • This has the potential to use the west coast’s abundant wind and water resources to produce green hydrogen for use in Tasmania, as well as export to the mainland and the world.  
  • If fully operational, the Whaleback Energy Park could create over 4,500 jobs in construction and over 550 full-time permanent jobs. 

This is on top of the $6 million Labor announced earlier in the week to secure the future of the Waverley Mills, supporting textile manufacturing and 120 ongoing jobs.  
 
Labor will grow Tasmanian industry and boost local manufacturing. We will work with industry to protect and grow jobs, as well as attract private investment to Tasmania. 
 
Local businesses will also be able to access equity and loans through Labor’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund.  
 
This will help create new capabilities and opportunities to innovate in transport, defence, resources, food and beverage processing, medical science, renewables and low emission technologies, manufacturing and value-adding.