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

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's pre-election comments on Melbourne radio where he said:

I think any government which makes it harder to manufacture cars is making it harder for us to continue to be a first world economy because without cars … we are not really a sophisticated economy anymore.

Given Toyota's announcement yesterday, does the Prime Minister agree that, by his own test, it means that Australia will no longer be a sophisticated economy?

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

I welcome the question from the Leader of the Opposition and I fully share the dismay of members opposite, of members on all sides of this House, at the announcement that Toyota made yesterday. Every single one of us is devastated by this announcement, just as we were devastated by the announcement in December that Holden would cease manufacturing, just as we were devastated by the announcement early last year, under a different government, that Ford would cease manufacturing and just as we were devastated by the announcement back in 2008—again under a different government—that Mitsubishi would cease manufacturing.

It is not my intention to play the blame game. I will leave any of that to others. I am confident that the decent, honest workers and the decent, honest businesses of this country can, with assistance from state and federal governments, build a good future. That is our challenge: to get the fundamentals right so that the decent, honest workers and the decent, honest businesses of this country can flourish. And that is exactly what this government is doing.