Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I only have a few moments to cover this very important issue. Yet again we are speaking about Holden. This is not just about Holden; it is not just about South Australia; this is about the future of manufacturing industry in this nation. In the auto industry there are something like 50,000 direct jobs, good jobs, decent jobs throughout the nation. It is worth reflecting on what University of Adelaide Associate Professor John Spoehr said very recently:

If the industry's competitive position improved as a result of a decline in the dollar—

And I think the forecaster is saying that is what will happen—

then the losses would be greater because there would be an increase in economic activity and employment.

Professor Spoehr's study paints a bleak picture of state based losses: Victoria, 23,850 jobs by 2020; South Australia, 11,688 jobs; New South Wales, 15,000-plus jobs; and over 8,000 jobs in Queensland. These are conservative figures. Professor Spoehr said:

The reality is, in isolation (government funding to the car industry) does look like a big number, but you have to balance it against the losses from the collapse of the car industry as a whole.

I agree with Professor Spoehr in relation to that. We must stop the blame game. We as a nation are at the crossroads. We need to decide whether or not we want an auto industry in this nation with all the associated benefits, skills and innovation that actually saves the mining industry in this country many millions of dollars each year. These are the big questions we must ask.

I am grateful for the work that Robert Debelle, formerly from the University of South Australia Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Research, has been doing with me on this and for his assistance. We need to be smart and innovative and drive this forward to produce a car not just that more Australians want to buy but a car that can be exported to the world.

We also need to look at free trade agreements, which are not fair trade agreements. The fact that a Ford Territory costs 2½ times in Thailand what it costs here in Australia, despite the free trade agreement, because of non-tariff barriers is a disgrace.

We also need to address the issue of the carbon tax which, according to the Leader of the Government in the Senate in question time today, adds something like $400 to the cost of a motor vehicle. We also need to address matters that go beyond the carbon tax such as the high price we pay in this country for power, which is a significant input for this sector, and that is because the energy market rules and because of the way that energy infrastructure in this country has been gold plated, particularly network charges. That in itself would make the cost of a vehicle hundreds of dollars greater. These are important issues.

We also need to address head-on the claims made about industrial relations practices. I know that Grace Collier, a well-known commentator on these issues from The Australian, made a number of claims and assertions. Rather than being dismissive of those, we need to deal with them in a calm and rational manner to work out what the best way forward is. I do not accept for one minute that John Camillo, head of the vehicle builders division of the AMWU in South Australia, is anything but a reasonable, moderate and sensible pragmatist. He is not a radical union leader; he is a decent man doing his very best.

We must support, and the coalition must support, in totality the work and the efforts of industry minister Ian Macfarlane. I still have confidence in Minister Macfarlane, who I believe is genuinely doing his level best to save this industry. If any backgrounding to the contrary is occurring from government ministers to the media or anyone else, it is completely destructive.

Finally, I make a genuine plea to Prime Minister Abbott—someone whom I had a good working relationship with in opposition and a constructive working relationship with in government: do not abandon the hundreds of thousands of voters who supported you at the last election. Those voters who were once Howard battlers went back to the ALP and then became Abbott battlers. Do not abandon them, because the consequence of abandoning the motor vehicle industry in this country is that, in the lead-up to the 2016 election, every week there will be a plant that will close down, whether it is a component manufacturer or an associated industry. You will see lay-off after lay-off. I do not think that the Prime Minister wants to have that as part of his legacy. This industry is too important for us to abandon it. We can make it work. It is in the national interest to do so.