Vic premier gets nothing from PM: Andrews

Premier Denis Napthine has walked empty handed from a meeting with the prime minister in the midst of a Victorian job crisis, the state opposition leader says.

Dr Napthine met with Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday to discuss the thousands of local jobs lost as Alcoa, Toyota and Ford close their doors in Victoria.

State Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews criticised Dr Napthine for what he described as a fruitless meeting and said a government job plan was urgently needed.

"He has had two meetings after industry has died, after Toyota and after Alcoa," he told reporters.

"He never meets with the prime minister before there's a problem, he only meets with the prime minister afterwards and he's walked away from both those meetings empty handed.

"We have a jobs crisis in our state, but it's not all bad news, there are things that state government and the federal government can do right now to make a difficult situation a little better."

Mr Andrews and federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visited the BAE Systems Shipyard in Melbourne, where they called on the federal government to bring forward an order to help the struggling defence shipbuilding industry.

"Let's save these jobs, save many millions of dollars, place an order Mr Abbott," Mr Andrews urged.

Following his meeting with Dr Napthine in Melbourne, Mr Abbott flagged "exciting developments" in a federal government jobs plan for Victoria, to be announced next month.