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

When he saw the first FX Holden roll off the assembly line in November 1948, Prime Minister Chifley said, 'She's a beauty.' Labor has always backed the Australian car industry and Australian auto workers. We respect the pride and the purpose the auto industry has brought to so many lives. We see it as an irreplaceable part of our national identity. Through seven decades, Holden endured recession, adapted to changing tastes and boosted the skills of its workforce—seven decades, but they couldn't last five years of the Abbott-Turnbull government, with its lazy, arrogant, conservative ideology, which dared and goaded this national icon to pack up and go.

The Prime Minister sat around that cabinet table, and the Liberal Party will wear the responsibility of the closure of Holden and the car industry forever. No-one will forget what this Prime Minister had to say when Holden announced it was closing its doors. Was it sympathy for the workers? Was it thanks for their contribution? No. He said: you needed greater productivity. This is a sad day for thousands of workers and their families. It didn't need to be. My message to manufacturing workers right across Australia is simple. Labor values what you do and, when and if we are elected, we will have your back. We still believe success can be made in Australia.

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