Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I note Senator Fisher’s reference to the proud history of car manufacturing in South Australia. She correctly talked about the role of Tom Playford in establishing the General Motors Holden plant, which first started mass producing cars in 1948. But, in fact, the history of car manufacturing goes back even earlier than that. It goes back to when a fellow called David Shearer—who I assume had some connection with Shearers agricultural manufacturing—produced the first steam-driven horseless carriage in South Australia in 1897. That was really the first car made in Australia, and it was made in South Australia. We continue to make great cars in that state. Tragically, under the previous Howard government, we watched as, bit by bit, Mitsubishi died a very slow death. The previous government did not have a plan for the car industry. Labor does have a car plan—Carr’s car plan—which was announced with the Prime Minister today.

The federal Labor government is committing $6.2 billion to a green car plan to help ensure the future of Australia’s car industry. Senator Abetz suggested that we are ignoring the car industry, but we are in fact devoting the sort of attention to it that the previous government should have done in order to prevent the collapse of the Mitsubishi car factory. This assistance package has important economic and environmental objectives and it is going to help entrench the car industry in Australia, despite the challenges that we currently face from the global financial crisis.

It is interesting that the President-elect of the United States, Mr Barack Obama, has almost immediately homed in on the car industry. He has made clear his view that the car industry is the backbone of the United States economy. In the United States today, Nancy Pelosi and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, have asked the Treasury Secretary to assist the big United States car manufacturers with an emergency plan. Of course, two of those companies, Ford and General Motors, have car plants in Australia. Obviously, whatever the American government is planning to do in this area is going to have a dramatic impact in Australia.

Senator Cameron spoke of some of the initiatives in this plan, but I think they are worth repeating. The aim is to attract new investment in the long term for sustainable vehicle production. We want to green the industry by improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. We want to strengthen the local supply chain and boost skills—and, of course, the Manufacturing Workers Union, the union that works in this industry, is going to be very important. That union is very ably led in South Australia by Mr John Camillo. I know he will be working hard with the companies and with the government to ensure that the skills in the sector get boosted. Finally, the plan will link to international supply chains and improve market access for Australian manufacturers. I fully endorse the car plan announced today and believe it is going to provide the necessary impetus to keep car manufacturing in this country going and see it improve and strengthen.