Tas poised for massive economic boost
Plans by telecom giant Vodafone to downscale its offshore presence and double their Tasmanian workforce has poised the island state for a massive economic boost.
The move to create 750 jobs at Vodafone’s Kingston call centre has been hailed as one of the biggest job announcements in the island state’s history by premier Lara Giddings.
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"Vodafone will scale down its operations in Mumbai and, instead, more than double their Tasmanian workforce to 1,500 employees,” Ms Giddings said.
"This is a massive boost to the Tasmanian economy and a great example of state and federal Labor working together with the private sector to grow jobs and opportunities for Tasmanians.”
The Tasmanian government would provide $850,000 for infrastructure costs and waive payroll tax for new employees in line with the Tasmanian Jobs Package policy.
An addition $4 million of funding from the federal government will support recruitment, training and the accommodation of new staff.
Mark Riley, sales manager at Petrusma Property, a Tasmanian-based real estate company, believes the surge of employment would have a positive impact on the property market in Kingston, and bring more people to the area for work.
While it will take a while for capital growth and yields to rise, short term gains will be quite good, he said.
Meanwhile, economic development minister David O’Byrne also welcomes the announcement.
"These are high quality jobs that will provide a massive economic boost for our state," Mr O’Byrne said.
Vodafone expects the additional jobs to deliver more than $45 million annually to Tasmania’s economy when operational.