Scott Morrison has brushed off questions about his decision to promote the Coalition's new jobs target at a business poised to shed staff and shift work overseas.
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But Labor said the visit was "beyond belief" as it accused the Prime Minister of not caring about local manufacturing.
Mr Morrison was pressured about his tour of Rheem Australia's western Sydney plant as his campaign made its first stop in Victoria on Wednesday afternoon.
ACM on Tuesday revealed the factory which Mr Morrison used as the backdrop for his announcement of a target to create 1.3 million jobs over the next five years was set to cut staff numbers as part of a restructure designed to keep the business competitive and viable.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Morrison was asked if Rheem's plans to do so was a contradiction to the message he was trying to sell on Tuesday.
Mr Morrison said he had been advised that jobs losses at Rheem's Rydalmere's factory would be managed through voluntary redundancies.
Rheem Australia managing director Chris Taylor had been less definitive in an earlier statement to ACM, saying the water heater manufacturer was only "confident" that the "majority" of roles would be managed through natural attrition and voluntary redundancies.
The Prime Minister was on Wednesday pressed on figures that showed there are 50,000 fewer jobs in manufacturing than at the time of the last federal election in May 2019.
Mr Morrison said jobs data was a lagging indicator as he expressed "great confidence" in the labour market.
He also defended the government's record on manufacturing, saying companies - including Rheem - were investing in Australia.
He said the rate of job creation through the pandemic should give Australians confidence that the Coalition could deliver on its latest employment target.
Labor's industrial relations spokesman, Tony Burke, took aim at Mr Morrison's over the Rheem visit.
"This is classic Scott Morrison - making an empty announcement claiming he'll create jobs at a facility that is actually about to cut jobs," he said.
"It's beyond belief. When Mr Morrison claims he's going to create jobs, people expect he means in Australia - not Vietnam."
Mr Burke laid blame for Rheem's decision to shift some work offshore at the feet of the Prime Minister and the prevalence of insecure work.
"This is what happens when you have a Prime Minister that doesn't care about secure work or local manufacturing - jobs get sent overseas," he said.
"Endless outsourcing - whether it's labour-hire companies or to other countries - is a major problem."
Mr Morrison travelled to Geelong on the third day of the campaign to promote a $125 million grant to help upgrade Viva Energy's refinery, part of the government's plan to shore up Australia's domestic fuel stocks amid global disruptions including the war in Ukraine.
The Ampol refinery in Brisbane has also been handed a $125 million grant. Viva Energy and Ampol will match the grants.
Mr Morrison said the investment would protect the1250 jobs at each of the two refineries, while Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the upgrade was essential to secure Australia's fuel security.
The refinery sits just outside the battleground seat of Corangamite, which Labor's Libby Coker holds on a razor-thin margin of 1 per cent.
Gerard Cockburn
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
