Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Hunter said, he was in a hi-vis vest. He was wearing a hard hat and protective glasses. He had Australian blue-collar workers standing behind him and he said that he was going to be a Prime Minister who concerned himself with those people. He used those workers as a prop for his media conferences. You have to think a bit more about Australian workers than just use them as a backdrop for your political gains. Australian workers expect their government to act in the national interest and look after their back—to look after them when they are in a bit of trouble.

What have we seen in that time? We have seen the inability of this government to engage with the sector. We have had threats by the Treasurer and we have had a Prime Minister who on the one hand said he was going to have a calm and methodical government but then he refers this issue to the Productivity Commission and, before the Productivity Commission can even start, the Prime Minister says that there will be no more money for this industry. What sort of message does it send to Holden and the automotive sector when the Prime Minister had already made his decision and pre-empted the outcome of an inquiry by the Productivity Commission? It says that this is just a sham. It says that we are referring this to the Productivity Commission as an alibi for doing nothing and not really caring about these workers. Today, unfortunately and most tragically, we see the news that thousands of workers will lose their jobs, and that is a dreadful thing.

On top of that we have already seen the problems that confront Qantas. We would hope the government starts to engage more fully with that company.

Just think about how important the automotive sector is to this country. We want to be a country that builds things. We want to make sure that we have a manufacturing sector. We are one of only 13 countries that have the capacity to design and manufacture a motor vehicle. We are an open and competitive market but we also ensure that we provide the right support. And we are no different from other countries. The United States and other countries provide support for their auto workers. They look after them because they know it is a tough industry. They helped them restructure. They helped them innovate. What we have seen here instead is, firstly, a reduction of $500 million in support from the government. Since then, every message sent by this government has been, 'We are no longer going to support those workers.' That is the problem here: this government has turned its back on Australian workers.

The reason that I sought to move a suspension of standing orders in this place was that you would have thought that on a day that this announcement was made the Acting Prime Minister would have gotten up on his feet and announced it to the parliament and talked to the Australian people via this chamber. In fact, it took a question.

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