Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition love to run a silly campaign, and this is a silly campaign. It is also incredibly hypocritical, to be frank. I've been here since 2013 and I can remember sitting here in opposition when the then Treasurer goaded Holden into leaving. They kicked out the car industry in this country. They killed the car industry in this country. On 11 December 2013, only a day after the Treasurer stood up in this place and arrogantly goaded Holden into leaving, Holden announced that they would cease production in this country, and Toyota soon followed. Up to 200,000 workers directly and indirectly related to the car industry lost their jobs.

That was what those opposite did. That's how much they cared about the car industry—they saw our own car industry shut down. Our R&D was lost, and our ability to manufacture cars that Australians want and need was lost. That is the destruction that those opposite did, and they did so on the eve of the biggest revolution in the car industry that we've seen since the creation of the car: the transition to hybrids, the transition to electric vehicles and the efficiency standards that we are now debating in terms of fuel. What a lost opportunity. What a devastation for the Australian people, not just for industry. That decision, that one answer that that Treasurer gave in question time alone, saw us as a country lose over $29 billion in economic output. That is what the loss of the car industry caused us.

Here we are today, and we are now at the mercy of the global car industry because we no longer manufacture Australian cars. We are the dumping ground for what the rest of the world doesn't want. That is why we are debating fuel efficiency standards and what we want to have. Sadly and embarrassingly, we are one of the last countries in the world to do so, and that is a shame. It is so disappointing that Australia is one of the last, and that is why what this government is doing is so responsible.

The other thing I will say on this MPI that's been put forward by those opposite is that it just demonstrates their hysteria and how it is all about the politics. They're saying that standards that haven't even been introduced as legislation and debated in this place and the other place and aren't even law are impacting the cost of living today. How is that possible? Let's create a fear campaign. Let's create this fictitious, 'There's a tax. There's another tax,' when it doesn't even exist yet.

This is where we are at. At this moment today, what I've told the dealers in my electorate is: 'Parliament is sitting this week. Thank you for making a submission and thank you for reaching out. Let's get together, in the electorate, have a roundtable and discuss your concerns, and I'll feed them into the process.' But what I've had to say to them is: 'This isn't coming in today. We are in a process of consultation.' That is why people have until Monday to put forward their public submission. Legislation will be drafted, and it's still got to get through this place and the other place, so it's not affecting the cost of living today.

But I can tell you what is affecting the cost of living today and what's going to help relieve the cost of living today is the fact that this parliament, this week, has passed our changes to stage 3 tax cuts. So all of those mums that the previous speaker was just talking about who might be working part time or full time and all those tradies that the previous speaker was just talking about will now get a bigger tax cut because of this government and because of what we put through this parliament.

Under those opposite—the same government who goaded the car industry to leave—a lot of those mums working part time would have got nothing, because they earned under $45,000. Here they are saying: 'That's okay. We're going to protect your future car purchases'—about legislation that hasn't even been passed—'but we're not going to really do much to help you day to day right now. We got dragged kicking and screaming to do something about child care and dragged kicking and screaming to do something about the cost of living today, but, instead, let's just create another fear campaign about a fictitious tax.'

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