Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

Well, let us see what they do. I know that you, Acting Deputy President Bernardi, are from South Australia and would love to speak on this issue, but you are in the chair. Like all South Australians you would be concerned, I imagine, that this government has not made of the sorts of noises that the people of South Australia want to hear about the support for this industry.

I have had some dealings with some of the union officials who have had the very difficult job of dealing with the amount of media coverage that this issue has been given because of the question marks over the future of the industry. I put on the record my congratulations to Mr John Camillo, the secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union in South Australia but, more particularly, a person who comes out of the auto industry. This union recognised the problems that occurred post the GFC and they sat down very responsibly with Holden in South Australia and negotiated provisions that ensured that, during that very difficult period of economic instability in the world economy, this company continued to operate, people continued to be employed, and we continue to manufacture cars in Australia.

More recently in the most difficult of circumstances Mr Camillo again sat down with the company to work out a strategy to ensure that, from the point of the workers, they were doing absolutely everything in their power to ensure that this company continued to survive in this country. Now, having done all that work, of course what we were expecting to see before Christmas was a Productivity Commission report that would, we hoped, say, 'Look, for national security reasons as well as a whole lot of other reasons we need to build cars in this country.' What has happened? That report has been delayed until after the state election in South Australia. I think what is now worrying all of those workers in the car industry in South Australia is that that report is not going to be favourable to the continuation of the car industry in this country but is not going to be released prior to the state election so people can make some judgement about it. I think it is a matter of very great regret that this Productivity Commission report has been delayed.

The fact of the matter is that under the Labor Party government we had a strategy for the survival of the car industry. We understood the importance of the car industry and we understood why working Australians need to have that job security. We understand why Australia has to be a country that actually built things but, more particularly, builds vehicles in this country. We had a plan that I believe, certainly under former Minister Carr, was going to lead to a situation where we continued to build cars in this country. The concern that South Australians now have—all of those workers who rely for a living on the car industry, all of those spin-off companies that rely on the support of the auto industry—is that this government is not committed to the ongoing survival of the vehicle industry. What South Australians now want to hear from the government—and certainly from their South Australian representatives—is that there is a commitment to continue to build cars in this country. We need to do it.

Holden is a great company. I do not know enough about the history of Holden with regard to why Ben Chifley was so keen to ensure that we had an automotive industry. My guess is that one of those reasons was national security. It was just after the Second World War and he was determined that this country was going to build vehicles. I think we need to come out very clearly and very strongly and make a commitment that we continue to build cars in this country. That is what the people of South Australia want to hear, that is what the people of Australia want to hear and we want to hear this government come out and say, clearly and strongly, 'We support the car industry, we support the workers in the car industry and we are not going to let this industry die.' (Time expired)