JOB security and finding employment were among the main topics voters raised when Rod Bloomfield, the Nick Xenophon Team candidate for Calare, got his campaign under way yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Bloomfield, who faces an uphill battle to make a mark for the new party in the Calare election, said voters were looking for an alternative to the major parties.
“Some people ... are concerned about jobs and job security and people that don’t have a job are concerned about getting a job to begin with,” Mr Bloomfield said.
“Probably equal to that people are angry with the old parties, the Coalition is on the nose with a lot of people and Labor is on the nose with lots of people, they are looking for a viable alternative candidate.
“Calare has gone independent in the past and I’m pretty positive that they will look for an alternative.”
Addressing the jobs issue, Mr Bloomfield said medium-sized manufacturing and medium level engineering companies should be encouraged to relocate to regional centres and more money should be put back into vocational education and training [VET] such as TAFE so people have the skills to work.
Mr Bloomfield also had an issue with skilled workers who were made redundant from the Orange Electrolux factory being told to retrain in unrelated areas such as health care or aged care.
Another issue Mr Bloomfield is campaigning for is getting funding for the proposed Murray Darling Medical School, which he will discuss with Charles Sturt University vice-chancellor Andrew Vann next week.