Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow minister has confirmed that they are a fine industry association. Their view on this matter is headed in these terms: ‘Opposition urged not to obstruct vital automotive legislation.’ From this fine industry association, as the shadow minister has indicated, comes a plea: please do not obstruct this legislation. It says:

The Federation of Automotive Product Manufacturers calls on the Federal Opposition to pass without delay the Automotive Transformation Scheme legislation so that component manufacturers can move forward with confidence in implementing the key elements of the Federal Government New Car Plan for a Greener Future.

It goes on to say that the amendments proposed by the federal opposition are unworkable. It says they would require commercially sensitive information from motor vehicle producers, the component sector, the tooling sector and service providers to be made public and therefore restrict vital innovation and R&D. It says:

Now is not the time to be undermining commercial decision-making processes and investment decisions. The Senate must not hold to ransom the thousands of jobs in the automotive component sector.

That is from, in the shadow minister’s own words, a fine industry association. On this occasion I would urge the shadow minister, if he is not interested in the advice of the government on this matter, to consider very carefully the advice of the industry association, which he describes as a very fine one. So, in the absence of the shadow minister seeking to make a further contribution on this—

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