Work starts on Masters store at Parafield, generating hundreds of jobs
WORK is starting today on a new Masters hardware store at Parafield Airport, to create 300 jobs during construction and 130 ongoing jobs when the store opens.
WORK is starting today on a new Masters hardware store at Parafield Airport, to create 300 jobs during construction and 130 ongoing jobs when the store opens.
The new 13,500sq m Masters Parafield Airport store, part of the Woolworths-owned chain is expected to open in May 2016, near hardware giant Bunnings’ Parafield store.
The announcement is a welcome boon for the state, coming amid a double jobs shock yesterday.
As the rest of the nation celebrated a slight drop in the May unemployment level to 6 per cent, SA’s official jobless rate hit 7.6 per cent.
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis, who attended the sod turning ceremony today, said the state’s unemployment rate was unacceptably high.
“I’m not happy with it. I don’t know anyone who’s happy with it,” he said.
“The (state) budget will be about creating jobs in the upcoming 12 to 24 months.”
The release of the state’s unemployment figures followed The Advertiser’s exclusive report yesterday revealing that the closure of Port Augusta’s two power stations and the Leigh Creek coal mine would cost hundreds of jobs. Alinta Energy confirmed the report yesterday, announcing that 440 jobs would go.
The new Parafield store will be the second Masters store in Adelaide, and the third in South Australia. A store opened late last year near Adelaide Airport, and another at Mount Gambier in 2012.
It will have a large paint department, tool shop, garden section, bathroom and kitchen display area and drive-through area to assist local tradies and builders.
Masters senior property development manager Rob Hain said: “The construction will employ a number of people from the area and we look forward to strengthening our ties with the local community.”
State treasurer Tom Koutsantonis and Ramsay MP Zoe Bettison will attend a sod-turning ceremony at the site today.