Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Let's deal with some of the facts. If the Labor Party thinks that something that was said in this House yesterday caused General Motors to suddenly decide, after being here for decades, that they should leave the country, then that just illustrates how poorly informed the Labor Party is about how enterprise works. These decisions are made over a matter of months, if not years—and it was a very significant decision for General Motors. And it was no secret. It was in the Wall Street Journal. It was well known to people that General Motors Holden were contemplating leaving Australia.

The confected anger from Labor is appalling, because it treats the Australian people and stakeholders and workers with total contempt. In their statement in Detroit the Chief Executive of General Motors Holden said emphatically:

The decision to end manufacturing in Australia reflects the perfect storm of negative influences the automotive industry faces in the country, including the sustained strength of the Australian dollar, high cost of production, small domestic market and arguably the most competitive and fragmented auto market in the world.

The hypocrisy of the Labor Party knows no bounds. This morning they were railing against the high Australian dollar and in the meantime they invite Paul Keating to come and address the caucus about how good it was to float the Australian dollar!

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