Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

The second big problem they have with their argument is there is no truth to it. They are trying to create the idea that within the last three months of the new coalition government, suddenly Holden decided that they were going to close their manufacturing in South Australia. Obviously, that is not how business works internationally or in Australia. We know that it is not true. We know this not because we have said it is not true, not because any economic commentator has said it is not true, but because General Motors themselves have said it is not true. In the statement that they released yesterday they said:

The decision to end manufacturing in Australia reflects the perfect storm of negative influences the automotive industry faces …

They went on to name four different influences. None of them were the federal government, or even the state government in South Australia. Yesterday, Mike Devereux went even further on the Jon Faine program. Jon Faine said, 'Okay let us boil it down to the nitty-gritty here, why did they close? Mike Devereux replied, 'As you and I have talked on this very show before, Jon, over many, many years you get to the point where it is simply for us no longer a viable case to assemble and manufacture cars in this country.'

He is not the only General Motors spokesman who has made these kinds of statements. In fact on ABC radio today the spokesman for GMH in Detroit said, 'It is unlikely that any Australian government package would have averted the decision to close the Holden factories.' I repeat that because it is very important. Today General Motors in Detroit said on ABC radio, 'It is unlikely that any Australian government package would have averted the decision to close the Holden factories.'

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

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