Premier Andrews Backs Villawood Call For Greater Care Worker Support
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has backed a Villawood Properties call for the business community to follow its lead in offering special support packages for Geelong’s largest employment sector – care workers.
Villawood’s Care Worker Support Program has set aside land at Geelong that’s been taken up by nurses, firefighters, teachers, police, paramedic, and personal and aged care workers to date.
The program has provided land for important community workers who might otherwise have been squeezed out of the market and following its Geelong success has been extended to Melbourne. “As Geelong’s economy changes, care workers are a rapidly growing and increasingly important part of our community and our employment base. We need to look after them,” Villawood executive director Rory Costelloe said. Oliver Hume research shows Greater Geelong’s health care and social assistance workers grew 40 per cent between 2011 and 2016 to make up one in six or almost 16 per cent of the local workforce.
