Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Evans) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to funding to Toyota for the production of hybrid cars.

It is very hard to believe that the gentleman that gave the answers in relation to this matter was in fact the Acting Prime Minister of this country. The answers provided were an insult to the long-suffering Australian taxpayer and of course to this parliament. What they show is that Rudd Labor is in absolute and utter disarray, making policy on the run. When you do that, you make mistakes—and that has become very, very obvious. In fact, Australia has now become the object of international ridicule—throwing $35 million at one of the most profitable car companies in the world, if not the most profitable car company in the world. Toyota made billions of dollars of profit last year, and we are now led to believe it was enticed to come to Australia with a $35 million grant. In fact, Mr Watanabe of Toyota said, ‘It’s very nice to get the $35 million, but we still don’t know what we’re going to be doing with it.’ The very next day, Toyota issued its clarifying statement. But of course the fact that it did that would suggest that there was some contact between the Prime Minister or the government and Toyota to get that so-called clarifying statement.

When Senator Evans was asked about that very specifically during question time today he squibbed it, exactly like when he was specifically asked on what date the money was promised to Toyota—he squibbed it. This is from a government that said it would be open, it would be transparent and its policies would be evidence based. The only evidence we have is that the Labor Party is in disarray. The Prime Minister had problems in Japan and he had to go to Japan with some money as some sort of a peace offering to our major trading partner, Japan, which had been ignored for six months by this great expert on foreign affairs, one Mr Rudd.

We were told, for example, that the $35 million was coming out of the green car fund, which was budgeted for. Very interesting that—because on 13 May the budget came down and, on 13 May, the fund still had $500 million to start as of the year 2011. Yet, on 10 June, $35 million was allegedly advanced out of that fund to pay Toyota. We now know that Senator Carr claims that he has been in discussions with Toyota since December. If that is true—if that is to be believed—why wasn’t this $35 million talked about in the budget documentation? The fact that it was not clearly indicates that this was cobbled together as a matter of great urgency—to give the Prime Minister some sort of sensible photo opportunity.

But of course—as so often happens with the Prime Minister, be it on alcopops or whatever you like—it imploded on him because he is too clever by half. He thinks he can be smart. He has David Epstein, the man who used to run the National Media Liaison Service, called aNiMaLS, as his chief of staff, and the only business he knows is spin. What the Prime Minister and this Labor government need is substance. That is what has been sadly lacking in all of its decisions in recent times and what has been so clearly exposed in relation to this exercise on the Toyota $35 million fund.

What we have here is a decision that is clearly not transparent, clearly playing favourites. It is clearly spin over substance. What it shows is that this minister, Senator Carr, and the government are not in control of the portfolio—with no long-term vision. It is all about short-term, knee-jerk reactions, and it is about time Senator Carr came back to this country to explain exactly those things that Senator Evans was so incapable of explaining during question time today.