Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the House censures the Prime Minister for doing nothing as Holden leaves Australia after 65 years and for failing to save Australian workers from job losses and in particular for:

(1) failing to do everything he could to keep Holden in Australia;

(2) failing to sit down, face to face, with Holden and work through what was needed to support Holden jobs;

(3) persisting with a $500 million cut to Australia's automotive industry even after receiving Holden's business case that would have saved Holden jobs;

(4) setting up a Productivity Commission inquiry with a reporting date in 2014 after the South Australian election when Holden needed immediate answers and immediate assistance;

(5) failing to lead a Government united in supporting Holden and protecting Australian manufacturing jobs;

(6) allowing his Ministers to encourage Holden to leave Australia;

(7) failing to have any strategy and any plan to support Holden workers who have lost their job two weeks before Christmas; and

(8) having no plan for Australian jobs, other than a plan to cut wages.

I believe it is crucial for this parliament, today, on the last day that the parliament is sitting, to censure the Prime Minister for not having a plan to save the Australian automotive industry. We have been told by the government that this is not a day of doom and gloom. Only a person who is not working at Holden or in the car components industry could adopt such a pollyanna, head-in-the-sky attitude.

Labor, the opposition, believe that we can have a car industry in this Australia. We believe that it is up to a government to assist to maintain manufacturing jobs in this country. One reason for censuring this Prime Minister is that, unlike Labor, unlike many Australians, the Prime Minister has made a decision by his inaction to not have a car industry in Australia. Today we asked if the Prime Minister even met with the leadership of Holden to talk about this issue—whether he had had not three meetings, not two meetings, but even a single meeting. But, when it comes to car manufacturing, we get no support for Australian car workers. We are having a censure motion today because this government and this Prime Minister are doing nothing to save the car industry. They have decided that competing with the rest of the world is too hard for Australia. They have a 'little Australia' mentality which says that we cannot manufacture cars in this country.

Most of all, we seek to censure the Prime Minister because he promised before the election that the car industry would be better off under Liberal. What he never said—what is in the fine print—is that the only reason he could say the car industry would be better off under the coalition is that there would be no car industry under the coalition and therefore he would never have to prove his case.

There are things which this government could have done. The cynical defence of the government about the Holden news, their case, essentially comes down to this: we are a First World country, and it is hard to make cars in a First World country. We have a global market and a high dollar; therefore it is just all too hard! This parliament should reject this shoulder-shrugging, responsibility-self-absolving government and their dereliction—they say, 'It is too hard to help.' The managing director of Holden made it clear in June. He said, 'If the incoming government, the coalition, were to keep the same policies as Labor, then we could do business.' Of course, what he did not count on is that the coalition never intended to do business.

Why is it that other First World countries can support their car industry more generously than we already do—and that is still too much for this government? In Germany: First World wages. Don’t blame the workers for the wages. In the United States: First World wages. Those governments support their car industry. In Australia we would not have to pay the sorts of subsidies they pay in Germany and the United States. But I can tell you one thing that you will get when you vote for Labor at the ballot box in three years. At least we will stand by manufacturing workers when you vote Labor. We understand the cost. We do not accept that life is too hard. We do not accept that things just happen—that life is not always beer and skittles. We do not accept that, as some in the government do—even those representing motor-car-making electorates. We will never give up on your voters, even if you will not defend them. The government have failed to do everything they can.

The government would have you believe it is just too hard in the modern world to make cars in Australia—it is just too hard. Is it too hard to have a meeting with Holden? I think not. Is it too hard to try and keep to your basic promises on the car industry? I think not. And is it too hard, even, to back up your industry minister? Let me make it clear: we are not censuring Ian Macfarlane. He might not have won the debate, but, from the very judicious leaking and backgrounding from his team of colleagues, at least we know he put up half a fight to defend the car industry.

Not only has this mob opposite failed to do enough, not only has the Prime Minister has been missing in action when it comes to saving hundreds of thousands of jobs—

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