Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the Automotive Transformation Scheme Amendment Bill 2014, because this is a bill that spells disaster for the 200,000 Australian men and women who rely directly and indirectly on the automotive manufacturing industry for their jobs. The bill that is currently before the House will see cut $500 million in funding from the Automotive Transformation Scheme between now and 2017. It will then see the scheme terminate at the end of 2017, leaving no support for surviving Australian components companies—zero. If passed, this bill will likely lead to the early closure of Holden, crippling South Australia's economy further and leaving companies and workers in the wilderness much sooner than they were promised.

We know that every South Australian has an absolutely vivid memory of the appalling events of late last year when this government goaded Holden into announcing their departure from Australia. The government went out of their way to drive Holden away from our nation. There was some truly despicable behaviour from members of the government, including from South Australian members, who openly and aggressively betrayed the workers in our home state. Then of course we heard that the Prime Minister had the gall to tell these workers—some of whom had been in the company for decades; some of whom had worked their entire working lives for Holden—that unemployment would be good for them. In fact, he said: 'Some of them will find it difficult, but many of them will probably feel liberated to pursue new opportunities and get on with their lives.' Thank you very much for those words, Mr Prime Minister, which show just how completely and utterly out of touch you are. I have spoken directly with those Holden workers, and I am yet to come across one who is grateful to the government for 'liberating' them by driving Holden away from South Australia and Australia. That was clearly not the sentiment that was echoed on the ground by workers.

South Australians absolutely know the impact the closure of Holden will have on our local economy. It is a shame that the Liberal South Australian members in this House either do not know or they just do not care. When you have a look at the speakers' list, you will see that not a single South Australian Liberal or National has put their name down as having the guts to come into this place and justify these cuts. One has wandered in now. Maybe he will stand up and justify cutting $500 million from South Australian industry—or else he will just join with every other one of the South Australian gutless Liberals who will come in here and vote with the government but do not have the guts to stand up and put the case as to why they are betraying our local economy and our local workforce. Now that the decision has been made by Holden to close operations in Australia, we need to look at the best way to transition the workers and reduce the impact on our economy as much as possible. We need to assist these workers during this very difficult time—and this is not best done by ripping $500 million out of auto assistance.

It is critical that governments do not pre-empt the closure of the industry and risk the early closure of firms before 2017 by reducing available funding. That is why I am proud to come in here and vote against this bill. That is why I come in here and stick up for those workers who are already facing an uncertain future and do not need those opposite making it any harder.

South Australia needs this funding in place to assist with the transition of these workers, to help the industry and to help rebuild jobs and maintain capabilities in our local economy. We know that the premature closure of motor vehicle producers and the hundreds of firms in the automotive supply chain would send thousands of Australian jobs offshore long before 2017, and we on this side of the House are prepared to stand up and fight against that. That would mean that 50,000 direct Australian jobs in the car industry were at risk, and a further 200,000 jobs which rely indirectly on the industry were on the line.

In government, Labor's investments ensured that Australia maintained an auto industry in the face of the global financial crisis, in the face of global industry restructuring and in the face of a record high Australian dollar. Labor's approach is based on co-investments—not handouts, as the previous speaker would have us believe. The industry actually only received support when it invested. So, whilst the previous speaker talked about 'financial prop-ups', let's look at the reality of this. The reality is that $17.40 is the per capita cost of car industry support for Australians. This compares with $90 per capita for every German, $264 for every American and $334 for every Swede. So those opposite cannot come into this place and say that this was an industry that only survived due to unreasonable prop-ups by the Australian taxpayer. That is simply not true, and the facts do not back it up.

We know that auto is also the largest research and development contributor in the Australian manufacturing sector, contributing almost $700 million annually. Reports from both academia and industry show that it would cost the government more to see this industry fall over than it would to support it to survive. This again proves that when it comes to the economy this government stands for short-term gain and long-term pain. We see that over and over again, and sadly we South Australians see it all too acutely on too many occasions.

We know that modelling from the University of Adelaide—

Mr Pasin interjecting—

I do not even know the name of the member opposite; he is that irrelevant. If you want to speak on this bill put your name down on the list and stand up and justify your gutless position. Otherwise, I would advise you to shut up.

Modelling from the University of Adelaide shows that the loss of the industry—

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