00:01When Ford Geelong shut its factory ten years ago, Henry Fuller didn't mince his words.
00:07I feel sorry for Australia in general because it's a skill set that's going and it won't come back.
00:14A decade later, he feels the same way.
00:16It wasn't like the end of the world, but it was close to it.
00:20After 35 years at Ford he got a job driving buses, until last year.
00:25Now the 64 year old is semi-retired and looking for work.
00:28I'd like to do some other part-time work just to earn enough money to pay the bills.
00:33Grants of more than $100 million were made available to help workers transition and the economy adjust.
00:39But it hasn't been easy.
00:41It's about finding a job in which people feel they can meaningfully deploy their skills and their knowledge.
00:48Part of that funding was for local businesses to take on more staff.
00:52Sykes Rowing received $50,000 for an engineering team and a rigger table.
00:56The table is now used to make drone components.
01:00I think it's helped us save jobs because it's helped us stay relevant.
01:03As for the future of the sites themselves, Geelong's mayor wants the former factory to become a film studio.
01:10Potentially for another Docklands type movie making endeavour.
01:15Meanwhile locals are opposing plans for a massive data centre at the Broadmeadows site.
01:21I don't believe that a data centre here in what is very valuable employment land is the best outcome for
01:27our community.
01:28Ford still operates facilities in the Yu Yangs, Melbourne's North and this research and development facility in Geelong.
01:35The company says it employs about 1,000 people across all three sites.
01:40But that's still thousands short of where it was when it was manufacturing vehicles in Australia.
01:45So the Most Merciful is running out.
01:45So we're going to do that and it'll be the most purl of our employees in the UK.
01:46Too long to make a job, once, ifствues to leave.
01:46However, if you are a military worker in the UK.
01:47For the past, we are working in the UK.
01:47for the most public event.
01:47To receive an environmental health market as well.
01:47And I'm going to do a bit more information about how we can get this allowed.
