Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The government regrets the announcement by GMAC and GE Money to withdraw from the Australian financing market. Both companies stated that the global financial crisis and the financial position of their respective parent companies were the reasons for the decision. The government has moved quickly to work with industry to develop an assistance scheme for automotive dealerships. The scheme consists of a special purpose vehicle to provide liquidity to car dealer financiers, who will then be able to assist dealerships that were unable to quickly secure alternative funding following the announced withdrawal of GMAC and GE Money.

The special purpose vehicle became operational on 1 January 2009. The government will provide support to the SPV in the form of a guarantee expected to cover a minor proportion of the transactions with dealers. The SPV is a transitional arrangement only and will remain in place until viable dealers establish new funding arrangements. The SPV is approximately $2 billion. It will operate with government support refinancing dealerships for a period— (Time expired)