Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question because I know that there is considerable anxiety within the motor vehicle manufacturing industry about the future of General Motors in Australia. The comment made this morning by Mr Devereux, the general manager, that no decision has been made at this point just adds to the uncertainty. What this government have said we want is a clear commitment that General Motors will remain active in Australia. The statements today include no clear commitment to stay in manufacturing in this country, yet it was only two years ago when Holden said it had achieved 'sustained profitability in Australia'. So just two years ago the company was reporting sustainable profitability and now it has not ruled out abandoning manufacturing in this country.

This government are doing their part to endeavour to create a better atmosphere for manufacturing in Australia. As far as the motor vehicle industry is concerned, we have got rid of the $1.8 billion changes to the fringe benefits tax which were going to have such an enormous impact on the motor vehicle manufacturing industry. Of course, we have legislation in the parliament to get rid of the carbon tax, which adds to the cost of every vehicle made in this country.

Holden is an Australian icon, and we want to have a nation where companies such as Holden can prosper and achieve their objectives in manufacturing. So today I have written to the general manager of Holden, Mr Devereux, asking General Motors to make an immediate statement clarifying their intentions in this country. They owe this to the workers of General Motors. Let us not go into the Christmas period without General Motors making a clear commitment to manufacturing in this country and responding to this government's endeavours to improve the manufacturing environment in Australia.

The government is committed to making Australia a place where manufacturing can prosper and where we can work together as a society, as a community and as an economy, not to just allow manufacturing jobs to drift away as they did under the previous regime, but instead to work together to find ways to make sure that manufacturing continues to employ people in this country and that we have a strong and robust manufacturing industry for future generations of Australians.

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