Labor leader Bill Shorten has accused the prime minister, Tony Abbott, of unfairly “blaming the bloke on the forklift” for the plight of Australia’s last major fruit processor as the major parties harden their stances on the issue of industry assistance.

Shorten warned of “diabolical consequences” for unemployment in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley after the Abbott government last week refused SPC Ardmona’s request for $25m towards retooling its struggling Shepperton plant. Victorian Labor promised $30m to the company if it wins the November state election.

“The Abbott government needs to start fighting for Australian jobs,” Shorten said, as he toured the plant with Victorian labor leader Daniel Andrews, who made the funding pledge.

“Tony Abbott and vested interests always attack the workers ... it is time for Tony Abbott and his proxies to stop blaming the workforce … we are getting people who are paid to act as leaders picking on some of the lowest paid in the country … saying it is the fault of the bloke on the forklift that SPC Ardmona is closing. No it’s not … have a look in the mirror Tony Abbott, have a look at your own lack of leadership,” Shorten said.

“This government simply doesn’t like manufacturing trades-based blue collar jobs, they won’t fight for them unless they see there is a vote for them in it,” he said – a reference to the Coalition’s $16m grant to the Cadbury chocolate factory in the contested Tasmanian seat of Denison during the last election – which the government said was different from SPC’s request because the Cadbury grant was about “tourism”.

Shorten’s attack came as treasurer, Joe Hockey, declared cabinet’s decision to refuse the request showed that under the Coalition “the age of entitlement is over and the age of personal responsibility has begun”.

He told ABC radio in Brisbane that Coca-Cola Amatil, which owns SPC Ardmona, was an “incredibly successful” and “profitable” company but “even by their own admission they haven’t run it properly”.

“The bottom line for us is they were asking the taxpayers for $50m to buy new plant and equipment … so Coca-Cola Amatil could make a larger profit,” Hockey said, as he campaigned for next weekend’s by-election in the Brisbane seat of Griffith

But Sharman Stone, the Coalition backbencher who represents the area, said the government is “scapegoating” SPC Ardmona and exaggerating “piffling” issues in the companies’ enterprise agreement to draw the struggling fruit manufacturer into a “union witch-hunt”.

Tony Abbott and several ministers have pointed to “perks” and “excessive” provisions in SPC’s enterprise agreement, including a “wet” allowance and a “food preservers’ picnic day” holiday the Monday before Melbourne Cup day.

But Stone, the member for the seat of Murray which includes Shepparton, said the provisions were “piffling” and “add up at most to a few thousand dollars when the company has been losing millions at the plant because of the broader economic conditions and because of the government’s policies.”

The “wet” allowance, she said, had only ever been paid to workers who provided their own protective “space suits” to be worn when using caustic soda to clean the plant. It had not been paid for at least two years, since the company began providing the safety suits. And the extra holiday at Melbourne Cup time was because workers had agreed to take a day in the “down season” for fruit canning in lieu of extra hours accumulated during the year.

“The government is scapegoating the company … denigrating a good company ... and trying to link it to a witch-hunt against the unions rather than face up to the real problems which are the continuing high dollar, the failure of our anti-dumping regime and the failure to properly safety test competing products that come in from overseas.”

“There are some rogue unions, especially in the building industry, but it is not fair to scapegoat SPC to distract from the government’s own decisions and the real problems in the economy,” she said.

Hockey said enterprise agreements “come down to the partnership between employers and employees, if that is what they negotiate. Do not come to the government asking for other taxpayers’ money when those enterprises fail.”

The Victorian government had also promised SPC $25m. After the federal government said it would not provide the money, Premier Denis Napthine promised to work with the company on a “plan B”, but did not say whether he would still provide the money.

Coca-Cola Amatil is expected to make a decision about the future of the factory on 17 February and Andrews conceded his offer of funding if he wins the November state election could be “too late”.

About 3,000 jobs in the Goulburn valley depend on SPC. The company is not commenting on the ongoing public discussion of its workplace arrangements.

At the time of the cabinet decision last week, the chief executive, Terry Davis said: “The government decision is disappointing in light of the fact that SPC Ardmona had presented to both the federal and Victorian governments a solid business case for a one-off co-investment of $25m each with CCA committing to a significant and much greater investment of more than $90m.”

“This was to be invested in best-in-class technology for both new product development and for efficiency gains to enable the transformation of the production facility in the Goulburn valley into a modern, high-tech food company, utilising clean, green Australian-grown fruit and vegetables.”

Announcing the decision to refuse SPC’s request for co-funding last week Abbott said: “I would invite you to have a flick through the existing enterprise bargaining agreement which, as I said, is way in excess of the award.

“There are wet allowances, there are loadings on top of overtime, there is the ability to cash out sick pay. You get two weeks’ redundancy for every six months of service up to 104 weeks.

“This is a pretty an extraordinary EBA and the company admits that in the past this hasn’t been well handled.”