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

I absolutely accept that the Leader of the Opposition is upset, disappointed, frustrated and angry. We are all upset to see Holden go. But there is one side of this parliament which is trying to help the motor industry, and there is another side which is playing politics. I say to the Leader of the Opposition that outrage is all very well for a union leader but it is not good enough for an alternative Prime Minister of this country. The Leader of the Opposition says that this would not have happened under Labor. But it did. Under Labor Prime Minister Gillard committed $275 billion to Holden and said Holden's future was secured for 10 years. It was not secured and the money did not work.

I say to the Leader of the Opposition and members opposite that we have tried throwing money at the motor industry but it just does not work. What we need to do if we are going to help the motor industry and the other manufacturing industries of this country is get the fundamentals right. We need to get taxes down, we need to get regulation down and we need to ensure that the great workers of Australia are unshackled and are able to be not just amongst the best paid workers in the world but amongst the most productive workers in the world. And that is what will happen under this government.

I hate to disturb the Leader of the Opposition with the facts, but the facts are that since the start of 2008 a manufacturing job has been lost every 19 minutes. That is what happened when members opposite were in power. That is what happened when members opposite were throwing $275 million at Holden—to no avail. What we need to do is approach this problem in a calm, considered and constructive way—and that is exactly what this government is doing. We started our campaign to help the motor industry by abolishing Labor's $1.8 billion fringe benefits tax hit on them. We are continuing our campaign to help the motor industry by abolishing the carbon tax, which adds $400 to the cost of every car produced in Australia, which damages domestic manufacturing and disadvantages it compared to foreign imports.

So there is one side which is doing what it can to help, and there is another side which is simply playing politics with this issue. Frankly, the Leader of the Opposition should be bigger than that. Until three months ago the Leader of the Opposition was a senior minister in a government which could not save Mitsubishi, which could not save Ford and which did not save Holden—even though they said they had saved Holden and even though they had spent $275 million extra trying to do it. Members opposite were completely shameless. I refer the House to a letter from the member for Wakefield, Mr Champion:

I have secured guaranteed support for Holden … ensuring production until 2022.

Why is it our job to save Holden when he said it was already saved, and when he invested $275 million which simply did not do the job?

I accept that this is a difficult time for manufacturing. I accept that this is a particularly devastating time for people employed by Holden—as it was earlier in the year for people employed by Ford. But I have faith in those workers, I have faith in our country and I have faith in the employers of this country. I am confident that, when the right policies are put in place, there will be jobs for those workers—because they are good people and they have a future in a strong and successful manufacturing economy.

The difficulty the Leader of the Opposition has is that he is arguing a case which not even Holden itself is arguing. He is arguing that, somehow, the problems of Holden in Australia are absolutely unique, and he is arguing that the problems of Holden are somehow uniquely caused by this government, a government that has been in place for less than three months. It is nothing to do with the government that was in place for six years and did not save Mitsubishi and did not save Ford and did not save Holden. It is all the fault of this government. I commend Mike Devereux for pointing out that Holden, in this country, has been hit by a perfect storm—high costs, high dollar and small markets. It has been hit by a perfect storm and, of course, Holden worldwide is in the middle of a restructure. I have faith in the workers of this country. I have faith in the companies of this country. I refuse to accept, as members opposite accept, as the Leader of the Opposition does, that the only way the workers of this country can be competitive and successful is with a massive ongoing government subsidy. I think the workers and the businesses of this country are better than that.

We will do what we can to ensure that the workers of this country, the businesses of this country, have a strong, profitable, viable and competitive future. We will do what we can to ensure that Holden and Ford workers, when they are no longer with those companies in 2016 and 2017, get the best possible economy in which to move. We will do our best to ensure that they are moving from one job to another job, that they are moving from a good job to a better job, that they are moving from a business that required subsidy to a business that does not require subsidy.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

See this speech in context