The head of one Victoria's largest industry bodies today warned the continual talking down of the Victorian economy would cost more jobs and it is time to start taking a more positive attitude to the Victorian economy.

Tony De Domenico, Executive Director of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Victoria said, "The series of announcements by companies leaving or scaling back in Victoria involving thousands of jobs, in many circumstances came with a time lapse of at least a year or in some cases two.

"This is not to ignore the trauma and stress caused by these announcements, but the best thing collectively industry, the government and the community can do to help people is to promote confidence in the economy to create more jobs."

Mr. De Domenico said, the time lapse also provided time for a major investigation as to how major plants such as Ford, Holden and Toyota could be re-purposed to provide facilities that could produce new manufacturing or economic activities.

"In Victoria the development industry directly employs around 310,000 full time employees, contributes around 12 per cent of the state's gross domestic product and contributes $4.6 billion in taxes to all tiers of government.

"Currently the industry is in the recovery mode and it will take some time to return to its peak, however, the current activity is providing a solid framework of economic activity with thousands of land allotments under production and thousands of new homes being built.

"In areas like Geelong, hit hard by some of the closure announcements, suburbs such as Armstrong Creek and other developments are providing economic activity which is also taking place in regional areas such as Ballarat and Bendigo."

Mr. De Domenico said, "the development industry is a major driver of small businesses and has a domino effect with every new home stimulating the white goods and services industries.

"The bottom line is the people who continually talk down the economy are attacking the opportunities for people seeking jobs by sapping confidence from the economy," Mr. De Domenico said.

Media Enquiries:
Ron Smith, Corporate Media Communications, UDIA Victoria - Mobile: 0417 329 201