Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The government's response to the Senate report on the future of the automotive industry has finally been tabled and incorporated two years after the Senate actually delivered its report. It has only done so in response to an order for the production of documents as proposed by Senator Xenophon. This is an extraordinary thing in itself. This pathetic, miserable response is a reflection of the government's attitude to the automotive industry. We recall that, in terms of its manufacturing component, the original producers were driven out of this country by the actions of this government. One can never forget—and this country should never forget—the statements made prior to 2015 by the then Acting Prime Minister, Mr Truss, and by Mr Hockey. They treated this industry with open contempt. They made statements attacking General Motors Holden, which led to General Motors Holden withdrawing their manufacturing facilities from this country, and subsequently Toyota did as well.

Recall Mr Abbott, who, when he was Leader of the Opposition, proposed to remove $500 million from the Automotive Transformation Scheme. This is part of the Liberal Party now in government which had celebrated the attacks upon the automotive industry. They were an industry that, at the time, employed 48,000 people directly and some 200,000 people indirectly. This was an attack upon an industry which, at that time, was having discussions with the Labor government about a proposal for two new models for Holden and Toyota. Two new models would be built in Australia at a time when the dollar was at a post-parity level. In these current circumstances, it would have seen that industry in a much, much stronger position now, given where the dollar is today. It would have seen an industry being able to survive and strengthen, as occurred during the world economic crisis when we saw this industry attract additional investment in this country when the rest of the industry around the world was in retreat.

What we now know is that the consequences of this government's action has been to see extraordinary economic devastation across many of the suburbs of the south-east of this country. A negative annual shock of some $29 billion—that is, two per cent of GDP—has been predicted will be the consequence of the actions of this government. We are already seeing not just in economic terms but in social terms the extraordinary effect that the destruction of the manufacturing and automotive vehicle industry is having. We know that in Craigieburn, north of Melbourne, the applications for social security payments are at record levels. We know that, in Craigieburn, payments on social security increased by $30 million. Over 2,000 extra people are on social security.

We're seeing this pattern developing in other parts of the western suburbs of Melbourne—in Werribee and in Derrimut. We're seeing it, of course, in the south-east as well. This is a pattern that's reflected around where the big automotive plants were. We're seeing it around the supply chain companies and the services industries. We know what the consequences were for Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi, I remember and I recall, closed, and my first job as minister was to actually deal with that. That was a consequence of the previous government. My first job as the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research was to reveal that Mitsubishi was closing its doors under the previous Liberal government. We know that the consequence of that was that two-thirds of workers at Mitsubishi were not able to secure work at the same level. One-third of workers never worked again and are unemployed. One-third very much work part time and one-third were able to secure some work, but only a third.

This is in industry, and we're seeing the same pattern despite the efforts of the major vehicle producers to provide support for workers in their plants. We know that workers are, at this time, receiving job offers that are considerably below their current employment in the automotive industry. You do not earn a king's fortune in the auto industry. The average wage for an auto worker is $60,000 a year. In the parts component, it's $55,000. In the original equipment-manufacturing plants, it's $70,000. The average is $60,000 a year. These are not people who are excessively paid, but it's quality work and it's skilled work. These are people who set the bar for the average skill level for the rest of manufacturing. Many of them have certificate-level qualifications or advanced diplomas and many of them have university degrees. These are skilled people who cannot find equivalent work in their current situation.

What have we got from this government? This report is a mishmash of underfunded, oversubscribed programs. The current measures that the government's just recently announced were 81 new applications for the $49 million that's available. There's no guarantee whatsoever that any of that money will go to auto workers or to those suburbs that employ auto workers—where they live. There's no guarantee whatsoever that any of that money will go to the south-east of Melbourne, the west of Melbourne or Adelaide. What we know is that there is no guarantee of support for the supply chains, and we know who the beneficiaries of the manufacturing growth centres that this government speaks highly of are. We know the CEOs. The advanced-manufacturing CEO of the growth centre's getting $485,000. The social security CEO's getting $433,000. The food and agricultural business CEO's getting $401,000. We know the big beneficiaries there.

What else can we say about the great hallmark of this government's manufacturing policies and it's growth-centre strategy? What is it that they say is the measure of success for this strategy? What is it? What we have is a government that turns its back on R&D, and the measures that have been proposed in this report go to the issue of R&D. Tragically, the automotive industry used to be the single largest element of our manufacturing R&D in this country. What's this government got to say? It blandly says: 'Of course there will be continued presence of the R&D centres in Australia. That, of course, can be assumed.' No, it cannot. It verbals General Motors about what decisions it's making about its plant in Port Melbourne at the moment. It actively verbals this report. It says that the decision has been made. It has not. There is no suggestion anywhere that the automotive companies will continue their support once the Automotive Transformation Scheme program money runs out.

What's this government got to say on other areas? It says it's discovered that parallel imports are something we should try to stop. It's been dragged kicking and screaming to that proposition—a proposition that this report, of course, advanced. I've been arguing for it for some time—since two years ago. But this government knows that, at the first opportunity, it'll be back like a dog returning to its vomit. The neoliberals of this government will be back to try and get grey imports into this country under the guise of: 'Suddenly, we will produce cheaper cars just like they do in New Zealand—junk out of Japan—so that we can ensure that we have older cars in this country and reduce our capacity.'

Of course, then the government says, 'We're doing great things on environmental standards.' Well, what have we got to say on that? Under the government's scheme, the zealots in the environment department have been let loose. We've got a carbon tax on motor cars now. The government says, 'No, we don't. We just put out a report and we had a bit of a discussion.' They're introducing a madcap scheme which won't even allow the Prius to get through unscathed—Toyota's Prius won't get through unscathed. But what does this government say? It says, 'Well, that's fine, because it's out there for discussion.' This report is a mishmash of nonsense because the government has no clear understanding of where it wants to go on automotive.

In Thatcher's Britain, it was understood what a disaster Margaret Thatcher had been to the automotive industry in England. They came to realise in England that it didn't have to be that way. Now parties on both sides of the fence have understood the importance of automotive and they've rebuilt the automotive industry in England. It's the largest exporter of automotive parts and vehicles in Europe. It's a pity this government didn't learn that message instead of listening to the zealots and the madcap schemes from those who think it's better to destroy an industry, like they've done, rather than build the capabilities of Australians and build our capacity to actually build wealth for Australian people. They'd rather destroy an industry in the way in which this government has so deliberately sought to do. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.