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

There he goes again. We see another example of the minister making a cheap political jibe, unable to get into the actual detail of what is before us. The thesis of the minister’s contribution is this: if you allow transparency in this sector you will be undermining it. Can I say that that is the biggest vote of no confidence I have seen in any sector. For the minister responsible for this sector to say, ‘If we were to allow transparency it would undermine it,’ reinforces all those prejudices out there in the community that I expressed my concern about. That is why I said to the leadership of this industry and to the minister that if you want to have a long-term view of this industry, if you want to provide genuine, long-term support for this industry, you will say that every act of transparency is another brick in the wall of support for this industry because the evidence will be stacking up to show that the taxpayers’ money is being well invested in this area.

The fact that you and, unfortunately, the industry—at this stage, at least—are shying away from that transparency says to the average punter listening to this debate that if it were all made transparent some of the arguments that have been put out would not have the mortar between the bricks to hold them up for the long term. When you build a brick wall without the mortar to set those bricks in place, one on top of the other, to make the argument, all you need is a little push and the whole wall collapses. Sure, you can build a wall a lot quicker without putting mortar in between the bricks. You can do it a lot quicker and say: ‘What a hero am I! Look at the wall I’ve built.’ Some of us take a more conservative approach and say that if you want that wall to stand, to withstand the vicissitudes of economic perils and the vicissitudes of changing taxpayer sentiment, you put the mortar in between the bricks. In our parliamentary democratic system, you do that through transparency. If I and the coalition are to stand accused of seeking to put a dagger through the heart of the industry because we want this brick wall to stand and to withstand the vicissitudes and the winds of change and other things that might buffet against it, so be it. But the short-term rhetoric, the flourishes of hyperbole that we have witnessed, do not actually put that cement in between the bricks and do not strengthen the minister’s arguments.

I put on the record that what it will mean for the long term is a poorer outcome for the automotive sector. That is something that I personally and all my coalition colleagues do not want to see. If we have the transparency and accountability that we are seeking with this amendment, the minister will have to come into this place on an annual basis to say how this investment is leading to economic sustainability, and an argument will have to be made for that. My view is that if the minister cannot point out the economic sustainability, the environmental sustainability or the workplace skills improvements, then—you know what?—it gives this place and the industry a great opportunity to ask how we can reconfigure it so that the Australian taxpayer gets even better value for each dollar invested.

Make no mistake, $6.2 billion is a lot of money to somebody like me. It might not be to the minister. I accept that when you are running a $350 billion debt for this country $6 billion sounds like a very small amount. It is about two per cent of it—if my maths is right—but it is nothing of any great significance to the government. I am sorry, but to the coalition it is. We say that that investment is a good one just as long as we monitor it, just as long as we have transparency and just as long as we have accountability. Personal attacks or rhetorical flourishes by the minister will not undermine that fundamental principle of accountability. What the minister may well achieve today is a win in this place. He may achieve that, but it will not be a long-term win for the industry.