Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on indulgence: I do not want to mince my words and I do not want to pretend to the parliament that this is anything other than a dark day for manufacturing in this country. We have today received the very bad news—not entirely unexpected news—that Holden is to cease manufacturing in this country in 2017. Twenty-nine hundred jobs will be gone by 2017 and thousands of jobs are at risk in up to 150 suppliers. This follows the withdrawal from motor manufacturing in our country of Mitsubishi some years ago and Ford's announced 2016 close-down. This was part of a world-wide restructure that, amongst other things, involved the closure of General Motors' plants in Korea and the withdrawal of Chevrolet from Europe. So we should not think that motor manufacturing in this country has alone suffered bad news this day. But as the managing director of Holden has said, and I thank him for his sober statement today on what must have been a sad and bitter day for him, Holden has been hit by a perfect storm: high costs, the high dollar and low volumes, and that explains the decision that they have made.

Now is the time for a strategic response to the difficulties in manufacturing and particularly to the difficulties in our motor industry. It is not the time to play politics. It is not the time to indulge in the blame game. It is not the time to peddle false hope. It is time for a candid and constructive conversation with the Australian people and it is time for a considered and constructive response from government. That is exactly what this government will be providing in coming days. That strategic response starts with a review of the fundamental strengths of our country. It starts with a review of the fundamental strengths of the areas which will be most impacted by the Holden close-down in three years time. We do have strengths in component manufacturing. We do have strengths in manufacturing, particularly for the mining sector. We have enormous strengths in research and development, in higher education and in biomedical science. The government will be announcing measures in coming days that will build on the strengths that we have and which will offer hope for the people of the regions impacted. It will be a considered package of measures, designed to rebuild confidence in the long-term economic future of those regions, in the long-term future of manufacturing of this country.

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