A factory visited by the Prime Minister while he spruiked a promise to create over a million jobs if re-elected plans to cut jobs at the facility and move them offshore to Vietnam.
On Tuesday, Scott Morrison held an event at Rheem Australia's Rydalmere facility, where he promised a re-elected Coalition government would create 1.3 million jobs by 2027 — a promise similar to those of previous campaigns.
But while the Prime Minister was selling job creation, the facility housing the event is planning on cutting some of its positions in a restructure that will move more of its operations to Vietnam.
In a statement, Rheem managing director Chris Taylor said the more than 500 Rydalmere employees were told about the changes last year. He said he expected between "zero and 50" jobs would go at the Rydalmere factory.
"The change is being made to ensure the ongoing competitiveness of the business against a growing range of imports, and to maintain the viability of its three existing Australian manufacturing facilities," he said.
"Unfortunately, there will be the loss of some roles at our Rydalmere facility as a result of this change.
"However the refocus of Rydalmere towards more sophisticated products will mean that job losses will be contained to well below the number of people likely to be seeking voluntary redundancy.
"There are a number of variables that will impact both the speed of the change and the quantity of product that will be sourced from the expanded Vietnam operation."
Mr Morrison, speaking on Wednesday, said it was for the company to outline its future plans.
"What I can point very clearly to is that companies like Rheem are investing in Australia," he said.
"Advanced manufacturing companies are investing in Australia, we're investing in Australia's industrial capacity here."
Mr Morrison did not respond to a question about why his campaign picked Rheem as the company he visited to promote his jobs plan.
He was also asked what his message was to the workers who were losing their jobs and what his government was doing to stop jobs going overseas.
"They're voluntary redundancies and so they've elected to take those packages, so I wouldn't describe it in the way you have," he responded.
Mr Taylor said it was too early to say exactly how many jobs would be axed from the Rydalmere factory.
He said the company's factories at Moorabbin in Victoria and Revesby in New South Wales would not be affected by the operational changes.
