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

My question is to the Minister for Finance representing the Treasurer. The budget plans to terminate the Automotive Transformation Scheme by 1 January 2018, some three years earlier than planned. The budget papers specify cuts of $618.5 million over eight years from 2013-14. Given that the scheme has a critical role in the restructuring and diversifying of the automotive components industry once Ford, Holden and Toyota cease manufacturing in Australia, what consultation and economic modelling has the government done on the job losses, business closures and lost manufacturing output this budget measure will have on the 33,000 direct employees of the automotive components sector and its multiplier effect? How does this fit in with Minister Cormann's statement to the chamber yesterday that the government wants to fix the economy by 'creating a stronger environment in which all businesses large and small can prosper'?