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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice today relating to the automotive industry.

These were, of course, questions that were asked by non-government senators, because there was not one question presented to this chamber from the government side. There was not one attempt to seek information about the consequences of the social and economic catastrophe which has been brought into this country as a direct result of the government's policy to drive General Motors out of Australia. What we did get was a stunt, at the beginning of question time, to attempt to avoid scrutiny. Now we have a clear example of the way in which this government operates. It pays a lot of attention to the politics of a situation but absolutely no attention whatsoever to the substantial policy questions.

General Motors, after the swearing-in of the government on 18 September, presented the government with a business case, on 3 October, in which they required assistance to meet $1 billion worth of new investment for the new generation motor vehicles in Australia, which would take production through to the middle of next decade. We have a minister here today who did not know about it. He did not know anything about the business case that has been put. He did not know anything about whether or not the Prime Minister has actually taken any interest in this matter. He did not know anything about the fact—which is now revealed for all to see—that the Prime Minister not once sought to discuss that business case with General Motors. He did not visit them and did not discuss the question with General Motors. But, as of Thursday, 5 December, a campaign was launched by senior members of this government to try and drive General Motors out of Australia—and they were very successful; what an incredible success indeed.

Yesterday, when the Treasurer was presented with the news, he said he was not surprised that this should have happened. He is right: he should not be surprised given the amount of energy he has put into driving this company away from Australia. We should not be surprised that this government has acted with such complete cavalier disregard for the welfare of workers in this industry, or the national economy or the regional economy. We also heard today that, despite the deliberate efforts of this government to drive this company out of Australia and end manufacturing in the automotive industry, there has been no strategy put in place and no thought given to the consequences of this, other than an attempt to draw upon a Labor program—the Automotive Industry Structural Adjustment Program—which would have been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster that this government have brought to this country.

We have seen the unparalleled hostility of this government to the automotive industry.

Bill Heffernan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. There were discussions before the election about the timing of Holden, and they were discussions with members of the Labor Party—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Heffernan, you know that is not a point of order. You do not have the call. There is no point of order. Senator Carr, you have the call.

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

The senator is actually quite right. The opposition, as it was as the time, was given extraordinarily full detail about the business case that General Motors had, but took no action to deal with it. The opposition at the time knew that they could have fixed this problem for less than $150 million a year. Now we are going to have to spend billions and billions of dollars to repair the damage that has been created by the extraordinarily ruthless and reckless attitude that this government has taken to one of the most important industries in manufacturing in this country.

We heard extraordinary statements being made by the Deputy Prime Minister, who was the Acting Prime Minister at the time, demanding an immediate answer from General Motors, despite the fact that the Minister for Industry had actually asked them to delay a decision. Nonetheless, upon hearing the decision of General Motors, we had the industry minister expressing most audaciously that he was disappointed that Holden hadn't given the Australian government time to complete the process—after there was an answer demanded of them by the Acting Prime Minister. He said he was floored. What an extraordinary proposition! It was a deliberate and destructive campaign launched by senior members of this government, who were backgrounding journalists and our media organisations for seven days straight, and they were demanding the company leave the country. The Treasurer said, 'You're either here or you're not.'

We know what happened. There was a text message sent to Detroit and there was a direct line feed to Detroit on question time yesterday. That is what happened. (Time expired)

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we have the former minister in charge of our automotive industry standing up here like the great hypocrite that he is, screaming at the top of his voice that somehow—

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

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. Senator McKenzie just referred to Senator Carr in a most unparliamentary way. I am not sure if you heard it, because you were having a discussion with Senator Cash, but I would request that it be withdrawn.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, I did not hear any remarks that may or may not have been made. I will leave it up to you. If you feel as though you need to withdraw, that would be appreciated.

Senator Conroy interjecting—

Order, Senator Conroy! I am relying on the integrity of the senator involved. Senator McKenzie, if you feel as though you have made any remarks that need to be withdrawn, I would ask that you withdraw those.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For Senator Carr to stand here as a Victorian senator—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, I just want to deal with this point of order. Did you feel as though you made a remark that needs to be withdrawn?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I did not, Mr Deputy President.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the absence of any evidence—

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But I will review Hansard when it comes out and if I need to withdraw I am more than happy to.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, the chair will review Hansard and determine whether anything has been said that is unparliamentary. Senator Carr, on that point of order?

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

On the point of order, Mr Deputy President, I do not normally care what anyone calls me, and they call me quite extraordinary things, but for you to call upon the senator here on the basis of her integrity and for her to then deny what she said is quite extraordinary, even for the National Party.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, the dilemma is this. I did not hear that. I was engaged in discussing business with the Clerk and with other senators. I have relied upon the senator, if she felt as though she had said something unparliamentary, to withdraw. She has indicated that we should review Hansard. Hansard will be reviewed and if there is anything to report back to the Senate it will happen. Senator McKenzie, you have the call.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy President. As a fellow Victorian senator, I know the automotive industry is incredibly important to our state's economy, as Senator Collins also knows and as Senator Carr, who is now leaving the chamber, should recognise. The coalition has been committed to a vibrant and sustainable automotive industry, which is why we instigated a Productivity Commission inquiry and which is why we are committing to a billion dollars worth of funding and another billion dollars after 2015. That is not an insignificant sum. But we cannot control what occurs in foreign boardrooms. GM's chairman, Dan Akerson, states from Detroit that a range of factors were to blame for their global restructure—so it has not hit just our domestic industry; it has hit other nations' industries. Mr Akerson says that 'the decision to end manufacturing in Australia reflects the perfect storm of negative influences the automotive industry faces' in Australia. The reality is that under the former minister, Senator Carr, 100,000 fewer cars were made. The carbon tax hit was put on our manufacturing industry, and you cannot say that is an insignificant amount of money or cost burden to your business, particularly if you are in manufacturing.

But I think the one that takes the cake—and Senator Ronaldson actually referred to it in his answers to the questions asked of the government by the opposition—was the $1.8 billion hit to this industry made, without consultation, I might say, around the fringe benefits tax hit made by the former government and hoisted onto the automotive industry, with no consultation. So, as for them coming in here and hypocritically carping from the sidelines that somehow the government is responsible for this or is attempting to drive Holden—GM—out of Australia, we would prefer that Holdens were being driven right around Australia. That is what we want to see: Australian-made cars being purchased by Australians and being driven on Australian roads. But because of the perfect storm of the high Australian dollar and the high cost of doing business—you don't like to hear it; you don't want to talk about the commission of audit; you don't want to talk to the Business Council—the reality is—and talk to anybody here or overseas—that trying to run a business in Australia at the moment is incredibly difficult. They are the first ones to say that there is a high cost of doing business in this country and that it is actually costing these jobs, combined with the low demand for the actual product. You put all that in together and it is unsustainable. So for them to sit here and point the finger is beyond a joke.

The reality is we are committed to research and development in this area. I think of Geelong and of the work done with the automotive industry and with a variety of our universities. It is key to it. I think the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce commentary on how this decision in a foreign boardroom impacts on our local economy and our local community is significant. The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce is working in Victoria particularly with those small to medium enterprises that are going to be affected by this. The Napthine government is convening a roundtable next Wednesday to discuss the Victorian automotive industry and to look at the industry, jobs et cetera.

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

It's too late. They had to do it before they made the decision.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Farrell, you can sit there and carp from the sidelines. The reality is that, as we speak, we are dealing with the consequences of the regulatory burden that your government put on this industry, and it is absolutely reprehensible for you to sit there and point the finger at this government when we are doing everything we can to bring down the cost of doing business in this nation and to actually address the very real regulatory burden that businesses have to deal with, particularly those in the manufacturing sector. (Time expired)

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

I absolutely reject the suggestion from Senator McKenzie that I am making comments from the sidelines. I have engaged in this debate every single day of this week.

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But what did you do about it for six years, though? You could have done something for six years.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

I am happy to answer that question. I am very happy to answer that question, Senator Kroger. I did my level best to ensure—

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Through me, please, Senator Farrell.

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

Sorry?

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Address through the chair.

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

Yes, I will address through the chair, thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. But I intend to answer the question of Senator Kroger. For every single day I have been in this place I have sought to defend and protect the automotive industry. It is an industry I believe Australia needs. It needs it for a whole lot of reasons, including, I think, national security reasons, and I completely reject Senator McKenzie's suggestion that I am carping from the sidelines. I have been involved in this debate, I have given many speeches on the issue of the importance of the car industry and this is one more that I am going to give today.

I did see what Prime Minister Abbott said about the announced closure of Holden. He has called it a 'dark day', and he is right about that. It is a dark day. But it did not have to be a dark day. In fact, it could have been a bright day today. Had the owners of Holden Australia made a different decision—the decision I thought they ought to have made—it could have been a very bright day for the Australian manufacturing industry. Why didn't they make that decision that could have been a bright decision?

One of the reasons, we now find out today, is that Mr Abbott had made no contact with the Holden company since the election. Everybody in this country—from workers at the Holden factory to a minister in the government, to state ministers and state members of parliament—knew that there was a significant issue at hand in respect of Holden, that there was an important decision to be made, and yet we find out today that the Prime Minister of this country has not spoken to this company.

We know that there was one person in the Abbott cabinet who was interested and did attempt to save this company.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes; the minister.

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

Yes; Minister Macfarlane. He was interested, but he had no support. He did not have any support from the rest of the cabinet, including, I assume, the sole South Australian cabinet minister, Minister Pyne. He obviously did not speak up on behalf of—

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He bungled schools, and now he's done industry.

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

Of course he was a pushover. They pushed him into getting rid of Gonski; two or three days later they pushed him back to supporting Gonski. But on the really important issue here of Holden, he was nowhere to be seen.

I do not think, in my time in this parliament, I have ever seen a government go out of its way so actively to encourage a negative decision by a company. The decision of Minister Hockey was to goad this company into making an early decision on this issue, when he should have been doing exactly the opposite. He should have been making soothing noises; he should have been indicating that the Australian people want to live in a country where we continue to make cars. That is the message he should have been giving this company. In fact, he gave it the opposite.

What also amazed me yesterday, when it was clear that there was a serious issue here in that Prime Minister Abbott had not contacted the company, was what the Acting Prime Minister or the acting Deputy Prime Minister—I am not sure what he was—Minister Truss did. What did he do? Did he get on the phone to the company and say: 'Look, we want you to stay manufacturing in this country. We want you to continue to build cars. We want you to keep employing Australians. We want those Australians to be paying tax so that this country continues to grow'? No, he did not get on the phone. Did he send an email to the company indicating those things? No, he wrote a letter. He used snail mail to get in contact with this company. They were not serious about saving the manufacturing industry. (Time expired)

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we have here from the Labor Party with this motion to take note of answers is what we have seen with so many other issues. It is a failure to recognise the mess that they have created. The former government now wants to blame everyone for the situation that they created. But first we have to go back to the dishonesty of the previous government in talking about Holden and in talking about the car industry. We go back to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, speaking in March 2012. She said:

Holden will be here in Australia producing cars for at least the next 10 years. That's great news. And it's as a result of a more than $1 billion co-investment between the Federal Government, the South Australian Government, the Victorian Government and of course Holden …

And then we see the accompanying media release states:

The Prime Minister said the Federal Government’s contribution would be $215 million …

That was in March 2012. In November 2012, having apparently saved Holden, 180 jobs were cut at Holden's plant in Elizabeth in South Australia. Some months later, in March 2013, another 500 jobs were cut—400 in South Australia and 100 in Victoria. Then we saw Nick Champion, the member for Wakefield in South Australia, claiming:

I have secured guaranteed support for GM Holden, Elizabeth, ensuring production until 2022.

That was not true. They did not tell the truth before the election and, as we see with so many other areas of the former Labor government, they failed to tell the truth the right throughout. They created the conditions that made it more difficult for Holden to exist.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, right. Now you're going to hide behind the carbon tax, are you?

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let us look at what the players have said.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not true, and you can't substantiate it.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, we might go to some quotes.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not true, and you can't substantiate it.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Collins!

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Shall we hear from Mike Devereux? Let us look at the conditions.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can't call someone a liar and then not substantiate it!

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will respond directly to your interjection, because it is ridiculous. Now I am going to give you some facts. This is what Mike Devereux said:

We cut a deal with the prime minister of the country in the Lodge back in 2008, showed our business plan, as did Ford, as did Toyota, made investments and then midway through … the rules of the game changed.

So it certainly worries a multinational parent company when sovereign risk begins to be something that is bandied about in terms of doing business in Australia.

Senator Jacinta Collins interjecting—

Who said that? Mike Devereux. Mike Devereux talked about you changing the game. He talked about the Labor Party—

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Respond through the chair please, Senator Seselja.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He talked about the Labor Party changing the game. That is what went on here. So we had a government that was prepared to add additional tax imposts on the industry, and perhaps Senator Collins is denying that that was the case. We saw it with the fringe benefits tax—the $1.8 billion announcement that hurt sales. We saw the carbon tax that added hundreds of dollars to the cost of building a car in Australia.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He didn't mention the carbon tax. He made no reference to the carbon tax.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He made no reference? Let us hear from Mike Devereux, in response to Senator Collins. He said:

There is no question that a tax on electricity, in making it more expensive in input costs, makes it more difficult for me to make money building cars.

So, again, you are wrong, and we hear it again and again.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No; you are misrepresenting.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can interject all you like, but he said it.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Seselja, I remind you again to direct your answers through the chair.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Through you: Mike Devereux said it. In fact, the former industry minister, Kim Carr, also made some suggestions in terms of the government policies and what they did. Kim Carr said:

Unfortunately the Green Car Innovation Fund was abolished, leaving international company executives wondering just what they had to do to get a consistent government policy commitment in Australia.

So there we have it. It is not just the coalition saying it; it is Mike Devereux saying that the conditions put in place by the former Labor government hurt and changed the game, and it is Kim Carr, the former industry minister, saying that the Labor Party changed the policy and that undermined the industry because it was hard to get consistent government policy in Australia under the Labor Party. This is rank hypocrisy from the Labor Party and should be seen as such. (Time expired)

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no question that the world automotive industry is suffering a perfect storm, an enormous challenge. The difficulty we have here in Australia now is that this government has added to that challenge. What is unprecedented is what happened in the House this week. Let me take the Senate back to the precise words of Mr Hockey. He invited us to join with the Acting Prime Minister and the government in calling on Holden to—and listen to this language, because this was the day ahead of Holden making its decision:

… come clean with the Australian people …

Remember the government had not even looked at a business plan, if we take what Senator Ronaldson said today. We were invited to:

… call on Holden to come clean with the Australian people about their intentions here.

He said:

We want them to be honest about it—we want them to be fair dinkum …

International companies heard the government refer to how to proceed with the automotive industry and talk about one of its main operators that way. They also understood that the government had not engaged with this company, had not sought to look at its business plan and had been telling automotive companies that they would wait until after this grand Productivity Commission inquiry, yet all of a sudden Mr Hockey was telling Holden to come clean. Of course, they came clean that day. The message went straight to Detroit. The message that went to Detroit—quite inconsistent with the views of the Australian public at large—was that the government will not support an ongoing automotive industry in Australia. That is what the message was.

Even the facts were wrong. Whilst we had senior ministers leaking out of cabinet against their industry minister in an unprecedented fashion, we also had the lies and the spin about the nature of Australian industry assistance to the automotive sector. Let me redress some of that in the time that I have. The Germans invest in the automotive industry $90 for every German, the United States invests $264 for every one of their citizens and the Swedes invest $334 for every Swede. What do we spend? The Australian investment in the car industry is the lowest per capita in the world, with only $17.40 invested for every Australian, and for this government that is too much.

This government does not accept or understand the broader national interest in maintaining a strong and viable automotive industry, quite contrary to the view of former coalition senators who participated in automotive industry inquiries. For instance, I remember Senator Alan Ferguson from South Australia was a strong supporter of the automotive industry. But where are they now? We do not hear from them about the important issues around South Australian and Victorian jobs. We do not hear any serious concern about ensuring that we maintain manufacturing in this important, high-skilled sector. We do not hear that at all.

I sincerely hope that this government will come to the table with some serious assistance for those workers who will need help in finding a new job. Senator Abetz took umbrage today when his comments from the day before relating to the fair entitlements guarantee were said to have a broader impact. I invite Senator Abetz to have a look at the Hansard because he does refer to other matters. The other matters are those important issues of assisting people to transfer from one area of employment to another, to reskill and move to other sectors. Indeed, we are talking about not only the employees of Holden here but potentially the employees of Toyota, who will have difficulties maintaining their operations because they will need supplies from other companies that will not have the scale they need to stay in Australia. We have enormous problems here simply because of this political interference by the Abbott government. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.