It covered how robots are stealing people’s jobs – especially the 300 jobs from the Goulburn Coles Distribution Centre.  

There was a large crowd on the night at the Astor Hotel.

Speakers included: The Greens’ Saan Ecker, Liberal Democrat Dean McCrae, Labor candidate for Goulburn Dr Ursula Stephens, the National’s James Harker Mortlock, Member for Goulburn Pru Goward and Matt Ford.

Saan Ecker opened by saying sustainable food systems are displacing people and those big corporations like Coles and Woolworths were “behaving scandalously.”

“They are not working for the betterment of workers, farmers, or consumers,” she said. 

“We need better controls over these systems. There are no ethics, they are driven by profit.”

James Harker-Mortlock said big corporations were also not the National’s friends because the Nationals believed in self-employment with farmers and entrepreneurs leading the way.

Member for Goulburn Pru Goward said the closure of the facility was a concern.

“I have invited Coles to Goulburn to have a look at opportunities to build a modern distribution centre - if they are going to build one, then let’s have it here,” she said.

“They told me that it will be five years before they identify the land to build them on, which gives us five years to plan for it.” 

She said history showed that technological change has always led to terrible dislocation for people.

“Modern government has recognised the need for support for people while they are transitioning - and for access to training and re-training,” she said. 

But Liberal Democrat Dean McCrae said people needed to look after themselves. 

“It is up to you to adapt. One door closes and another door opens. I’d encourage people to think outside the square and government assistance. Relying on an outside force to help you takes the power away from yourself,” he said.

Matt Foord said the word ‘robot’ comes from the Czech language, meaning ‘forced labour.’

He said South Korea had already implemented a robot tax due to the unemployment they create.

“Bill Gates supports the concept of a robot tax on an industry if a robot comes to do the same thing that a human was doing,” he said. 

Though there was agreement on issues like free trade being important to Australia’s high standard of living, there was some counterpoint on the role of government.

“The art of government is to make people’s lives better,” Ms Goward said.

“Some 30 per cent of the NSW infrastructure budget ($85 million) is being spent in regional areas. This includes $7 million for the North Goulburn Industrial Precinct. This will make such sites attractive.

“The market is better at picking winners in business, but governments are good at enabling infrastructure like roads, rail links and IT to enable business to expand.” 

Dr Stephens said governments have to invest in the services and facilities that attract people to our rural communities, such as schools, hospitals and TAFE. 

“There are opportunities here for tourism, and industry relocation – such as the recent example of a poultry processing plant coming to North Goulburn,” she said.

”We need to do more with energy prices. Investing more in renewable energy would assist.” 

Mr Harper-Mortlock proposed the idea of Goulburn becoming an innovation hub like Palo Alto. 

“If we brought more of a university presence here, we could be like Palo Alto, California. Goulburn is close to Canberra and Sydney, so we could become an innovation hub,” he said. 

Other big ideas on the night included: a universal living wage, free trade, the casualization of the workforce and the deregulation of the labour market. 

The replacement of Australian workers by ‘people robots’ – those working overseas on lower wages to produce cheaper goods – was also discussed. 

Dr Stephens summed up the night with: “the problem is a shrinking demand for labour so we have to think about how else can people be productively and creatively engaged.”