Those of us who grew up in the 1970s will be all too familiar with the jingle 'Football, Meat Pies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars'.
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The jingle was made famous by a television advertisement for Holden and it was aired that often, everyone was familiar with the tune and the lyrics.
No-one could have guessed back then as we sang along and mused at the fact that four simple things could sum up our country in a nutshell, that four decades later, the Australian icon Holden would announce it will cease to manufacture in Australia, costing the country more than 2000 jobs.
The company has admitted the decision was not made easy, but when you consider that the company's headquarters is based in Detroit - not even here in Australia - it does seem the decision was inevitable. It was just a matter of when.
The impacts of any closures and job losses are never just isolated to the city areas that are home to the manufacturing sites, the wound cuts right into the country areas as well.
These impacts will be felt in regional areas like Stawell, who have also faced job losses in recent times. Albeit on a much smaller scale, but the impacts have been very real.
It is disheartening to see political parties blaming one another for the decision by Holden. Rather than burning energy playing the blame game, it would be far more beneficial for the 2000 or so employees to hear politicians coming up with plans for the future and offers of support to ensure these people can be retrained and find other employment.
Just like here in Stawell where plans are being put in place for life without the gold mine, the political parties should be focusing over the next three years on ensuring there is life after Holden.
