Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces tech hubs to boost job numbers in Sydney Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at Macquarie University. A NETWORK of hi tech industry hubs designed to generate tens of thousands of new jobs in Sydney will be fast-tracked under the Rudd government's $1 billion national jobs plan. The Daily Telegraph has learned that four of 12 planned future industry hubs across the country will now be located in Sydney - with at least one in western Sydney. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday announced the first of the hubs at Macquarie Park - a medical technology centre designed to tap into the global med-tech market worth more than $300 billion. But three more jobs precincts, with the potential to create thousands of new jobs in hi tech and high value "future industries" will be rolled out over the coming weeks, The Daily Telegraph has learned. The jobs plan comes ahead of Treasury's official Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook figures to be released today, which are expected to confirm a softening economy and a return to unemployment figures above 6.25 per cent - numbers not seen since 2002. It is also expected to confirm the blowout in the Government's budget deficit to $30 billion this year, and collapsing revenues of almost $100 billion over the next four years. Industry Minister Kim Carr confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that Sydney would get the lion's share of the 12 new future job hubs - or innovation partnerships - expected to be announced over the next three weeks. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at Macquarie University with baby Paddy Wilkinson, 5 months. He said they had the potential to create tens of thousands of jobs in Sydney by transforming old industries in western Sydney - the largest manufacturing belt in the country with rising unemployment - and building the new industries of the future. "We are talking not of thousands of jobs but tens of thousands of jobs," Mr Carr said. (But to do it) we need to transform the economy firm by firm. We need to assist every enterprise in this country to improve the way we operate. Mr Rudd has so far struggled to explain his claim that Australia needed to transition to a new economy with the end of the China fuelled mining boom. "When we talk about a new way, this is what we are talking about," he said. This is blue collar meets white coat. The Government has committed $30.5 million a year in annual funding for the job hubs - designed to attract global tech giants to the city - to be matched by $30.5 million a year from industry. The funding, already accounted for in the budget will be redirected from existing industry programs. Labor has attempted to portray itself as the party of jobs, despite worsening unemployment figures. Last night its campaign office released figures claiming that planned Coalition cuts to spending would cost the equivalent of $2300 to every household - based on its claim that the Coalition had a $70 billion black hole in its own costing. However, the figure of $70 billion has since been discredited Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said today's PEFO figures would confirm just how dire the budget situation was. He also disputed Labor's claim that it was not up front about the Coalition's spending, claiming he had so far submitted 200 policies to the Parliamentary Budget Office. He accused Labor of being "all over the shop." "We will not be held to Labor's bottom line ... because we don't believe it," he told The Daily Telegraph. They have no past and they can't afford a future. But Mr Rudd seized on Opposition leader Tony Abbott's praise of former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, claiming it was proof that the Coalition intended to slash and burn spending. "He regards Jeff Kennett as representing a `golden age', and he therefore embraces that as his model for the future," the PM said. In the period that Mr Kennett was premier of Victoria, 300 public schools were closed, 9000 teachers and school staff were sacked, 3500 nurses were sacked, 17 hospitals were closed, 800 police officers were sacked, 45,000 public servants were sacked, unemployment peaked at 12.3 per cent, and state taxes ended up being the second highest in Australia. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev yesterday called for the next government to focus on delivering an "inspiring economic picture" aimed at lifting confidence among business leaders and consumers. "We remain of the view that Australia in the medium to long term is a great place to be," he said. But it's key that whoever ends up being in power is elected with a good majority and has a clear direction and really clear inspiring economic picture of the country. ``In the short term there are some confidence challenges. This comes ahead of the bank's full-year results tomorrow, which are expected to show a record $7.6 billion profit, boosted by growing margins from its home lending business. Mr Narev dismissed concerns the property sector was overheating after the recent run of interest rate cuts from the Reserve Bank. But he conceded the nation's biggest lender was always on the lookout for the dangers of a property bubble. It's always nice to be paying lower interest rates than higher, but interest rates in an economy on a downward cycle are there for a reason. So sometimes we're seen as the party poopers, but actually it's just that we need to be driving these things for the long term," Mr Narev said.