Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane were due to fly to Melbourne on Wednesday to meet Victorian Premier Denis Napthine after the latest manufacturing job losses. Workers at the Alcoa Plant at Point Henry in Geelong. Credit:Arsineh Houspian Mr Napthine has previously flagged a wish-list of infrastructure projects he wanted fast-tracked. The meeting was confirmed late on Tuesday after doubts that an initial standoff between the offices of the prime minister and the premier. The federal government is finalising its review of manufacturing in Victoria and South Australia, prompted by Holden's decision in December to quit manufacturing. Mr Hockey had said Alcoa's decision was ''disappointing'', but ''predictable'' and linked it to the carbon price introduced by Labor, which he said added to the high cost of production. He called on Labor to back the repeal of the tax.

''The carbon tax adds to the cost of production. It does, no matter what people say. You cannot say the carbon tax helps with producing things in Australia,'' he said. ''At the end of the day, the carbon tax is a greater cost on business. It is a massive cost on aluminium smelters, obviously. A 50-year-old smelter with a carbon tax is never going to be cost-effective.'' Alcoa had been exempt from 94.5 per cent of its carbon tax liability for its smelting operations as a so-called emissions intensive trade-exposed industry. The decision to shut the Point Henry plant came after the company placed the plant under strategic review in February 2012, ahead of the introduction of the carbon price on July 1, 2012. Announcing the review in 2012, Alcoa's managing director, Alan Cransberg, said the carbon tax would increase pressure on the company's operations at Point Henry, but said the review had not been prompted by the tax.

The Point Henry operation was subsequently thrown a $40 million lifeline in June 2012 by the former federal Labor and Victorian governments, but the cash injection had not been enough to help keep the company operating. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten called on the Abbott government to roll out an assistance package for Alcoa workers. Mr Shorten, who has been calling on the federal government to unveil a plan for Australian jobs, said the closure was devastating news for workers in Yennora and particularly Geelong, which had already been hit hard by Ford's decision last year to quit making cars. Loading ''It's clear that a global oversupply of aluminium, dramatically falling aluminium prices and a high Australian dollar made the continuation of these operations impossible,'' he said.

With Deborah Gough