Advance Morwell Chairman John Guy OAM, said today that the news of job losses at the ASIC Traralgon Office is yet another blow to employment in the Latrobe Valley.

As a former Mayor of Morwell, Mr Guy said that he could well remember the effort that went into the establishment of the ASIC Office in Traralgon.

The three councils of the time in Moe Morwell and Traralgon were warned that if they did not work together, they would not be able to attract this facility. It was our working together that finally convinced the Federal Government to build the facility in the Latrobe Valley.

For weeks now we have been hearing rumours of the privatising of this business and assurances from politicians that this would not lead to job losses.

With wall to wall national and liberal party politicians in Gippsland, we need them to actively support the retention of regional jobs and ensure that ASIC remains in Traralgon providing much needed work for our community.

“It is important for us all to work together and lobby government to not only retain our existing jobs, but also to create new employment opportunities to both address our region’s escalating unemployment issues and diversify our  narrow employment base.”  Added Mr Guy.