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 the Minister for Employment (Senator Abetz), the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) and the Assistant Minister for Health (Senator Nash) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

I remind the Senate that question time today reflects how this government have degenerated into purveyors of lies. This government have predicated their approach on peddling lies. They lie about the way in which the automotive industry operates and they lie about the way in which SPC operates. This government have degenerated into peddlers of lies.

They said that Toyota said that no matter what we did, they would leave as Holden did—which we know is untrue. Holden wanted to invest $1 billion. Jobs were driven overseas as a direct result of this government's actions. Toyota wanted to build not one but two new models in this country, which would have seen investment of around a similar proportion to that of General Motors.

Both these companies wanted long-term certainty. They did not want more; they just wanted to guarantee that the current support arrangements would be there into the next decade. What happened? The government promised to cut $500 million from the automotive industry assistance arrangements.

This is a government that has killed the automotive industry in this country. This is a government that will not face up to the fact that a new car plan, as Labor announced, would have secured the future of the automotive industry in this country and the jobs that go with it—the new investment, the new technologies and the new skills for Australia.

Senator Abetz says that we should not misquote Toyota, but I think Senator Abetz should refresh his own memory of what Toyota actually said. Toyota spoke to the Productivity Commission, which faithfully reported the statements on the 31 January—less than two weeks ago. Toyota Motor Corporation, on page 166, has stated that government assistance 'needs to be consistent and it needs to be ongoing' in order for Australian manufacturing operations to be viable. Senator Abetz, instead of acting blatantly in his party's interest, ought to think for a little while just about the national interest of this country and about the welfare of the people of this country.

It cannot be anything other than a social and economic disaster to see the loss of 50,000 jobs from the automotive industry, and the loss of maybe four or five times that number from subsequent industries that support the automotive industry. How can it possibly be in the national interest to get rid of Australian capabilities in regard to automotive manufacturing? How can the loss of those jobs, skills, technology, investment and taxation revenue be in the national interest? But this is a government that has pursued that course of policy.

They sicced the Productivity Commission on the industry, in what we have said would always be a post-mortem. Well, it is a situation here—and I repeat my statements from before—where the coroner is inquiring into a death which the government welcome. This is a government that welcome the destruction of the automotive industry.

When it comes to SPC, Senator Cormann makes the claim that he stands by all the assertions that this government, the Prime Minister and other ministers have made. None of their claims, he said, were false—none, whatsoever, of their claims was false. That is not what the company says. That is not what his own Liberal Party member in the seat of Murray says. That is not what the workers say. That is not what the press in the Goulburn Valley say. This is a government that turns its back on entire communities, not just on individual firms.

So we have a situation where over 3,000 people are now facing an economic catastrophe because of the government's blatant arrogance. The press reported that it is understood that, in the Liberal Party room itself, blatant arrogance is running this government. The government have a textbook view about how the economy works. It is a view that might be popular in the north shore of Sydney, but it bears no relationship whatsoever to the realities of economic life for working Australians and no relationship whatsoever to the way in which investment decisions are made internationally.

This is a government that is turning its back on ordinary Australians. This is a government that has no commitment to securing the investment, new technologies, new skills and new jobs this country needs. (Time expired)

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

I also rise to take note of answers to a variety of questions—a suite of questions, I might say—asked by the opposition. I rise just as Senator Carr sits down. He wants to tell me, a National Party senator from Victoria, what people in the seat of Murray, from Shepparton and Kyabram et cetera, are saying.

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

What are they saying?

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

I will tell you what they are saying, Senator Carr. They are saying, 'Get rid of the carbon tax.' They voted en masse, not for your promise—

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

What were they saying in the party room this morning?

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

Order on my left! Order. Senator McKenzie, you have the call.

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

I think we want to look at what the people from the seat of Murray actually think about the suite of options available to them, Senator Carr in his former role put it on the table. He also put a whole other range of legislation options on the table—keeping the carbon tax, keeping the regulation that is strangling industry in this country. I tell you what, Senator Carr, as you leave the chamber: the people from the seat of Murray in my state voted en masse to get rid of your government, to get rid of those policies. It would be nice if the opposition and those having a crack today could get on board and get rid of one of the millstones on industry—particularly food manufacturing and processing in the regions—the carbon tax.

Senator Cameron, you talked of SPCA, and I might say your party had to be dragged kicking and screaming to initiate the safeguard action under the Productivity Commission and in relation to some of the strategies that the new management at SPC Ardmona had started to implement to get their company back on track. One of them was to address the international trade regime that their industry has been operating under, and it took a lot of effort, including from your own AMWU president at a state level, to get you guys on board. So do not come crying now that somehow we have been slow to act. You were ready to jump to attention for automotive workers at the time, but you were dragged kicking and screaming in relation to regional workers in the seat of Murray.

The Productivity Commission's safeguards inquiry identified the supermarket strategy as being an issue of concern for manufacturing and food processing in this country. We know that Senator Ludwig, in his previous role, tried to get a voluntary code together throughout the supply chain to get producers, processors and retailers on the same page to start to address some of those issues. But it was not Senator Ludwig who could come up with the solution; rather it was private industry. It was SPC Ardmona, it was Woolworths and it was Coles that responded to the very strong demand in the Australian community to back our local produce. Thank you to Coles and Woolworths for ensuring that 100 per cent of their product is now locally produced.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One hundred per cent—I don't think so.

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

That is as a result not of your government's policy agenda but rather of private industry taking leadership, and that is what it should be about, Senator Marshall. I should not be surprised, Senator Marshall, that you are here. It is all about political game-playing for the Labor Party—using workers, not supporting them.

There was no greater case for us down south in Victoria, when the state leader of the Labor Party, Daniel Andrews—I notice you chuckling over there, Senator Marshall—came out in support of the workers, promising $25 million. He quickly did his figures and jumped it up a little more. That, folks, is not going to assist Coca-Cola Amatil in reaching their decision on 18 February because that money will not be arriving until the state election campaign come November 2014. Too little, too late by Daniel Andrews. The people of Murray clearly voted in September on what they wanted, and it was not more of the same. Yet here we are in February 2014 still debating whether the people of Murray meant what they said at the ballot box. Using workers for your state election campaign in November 2014 is beyond the pale.

The decision by Coca-Cola Amatil, a private company, on 18 February will determine whether SPC Ardmona in its current form continues in the Goulburn Valley. This is the company that has backed our region, that has backed our growers. It has invested in R&D and it has taken steps to address workplace relations practices. The management has changed and is going forward, and I hope the company does support them. But our job is to govern, to reduce the regulation—environmental regulation—right throughout our supply chain. (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One thing is clear from Senator McKenzie's session here: Senator McKenzie is no Dr Sharman Stone. You are not prepared to stand up for the people of your region. You have dodged the issue; you have wandered all over the place. Yet Dr Sharman Stone was prepared to stand up and call it how it was. You have said that you want to tell us in the Senate what the people of Murray are saying. Let me remind you what the people's representative in the seat of Murray, Dr Sharman Stone, a Liberal member, is saying. No wonder the Nationals are concerned that the Liberals might get more seats in National Party territory, especially after that weak performance of yours here.

Dr Stone said that the Prime Minister was attempting to scapegoat the workers at SPC. There was not a word from the heroes of the National Party to stand up for the workers at SPC—not a word. Dr Stone said that what the Prime Minister was saying was just rubbish—it was a witch-hunt, it was a furphy, it was not the truth and it was a distraction from the facts that would require some government action. She went on to say that it is lying. This is a senior member of the Liberal Party out in what should be National Party territory calling it how it is. Where were the Nationals? They stood up here bleating about blue-collar jobs when they were in opposition. Where were you? Where was Senator Boswell? Nowhere to be seen. It is an absolute disgrace.

Dr Stone went on to say that the Prime Minister was blackening the character of SPC Ardmona workers. The Prime Minister was blackening the character of workers who are in trouble, who do not know if they are going to have a job, who will have a very limited future in that regional area. Yet what does the Leader of the Liberal Party do—the leader of the government, the Prime Minister? According to Dr Sharman Stone, a Liberal member, he is blackening the character of the workers at SPC. Don't come in here telling us what the people of Murray are saying. The member knows exactly what the situation is and she has gone out on the front foot with far more courage than the National Party have had on this. The National Party was done-over in the party room when they supported SPC—done-over once more trying to support regional communities. National Party members will continually be done-over as long as the Liberal Party extremists have control economic policy in this government. They will get done over time and time again, and workers' jobs will be lost.

I actually know what it is like to lose a job and be made redundant—not too many on the other side would. I have worked as blue-collar worker; I know what it is like to go home and tell my wife with a young child that I have lost my job, that I have been made redundant and that I do not know what the future is for the family. Yet what does this federal government do? It treats jobs with a cavalier attitude. There will be no government intervention. The extremists will say, 'It's all about destroying jobs in one area, with jobs being created in another area.' These are all economic fears of Schumpeter and all the nonsense we hear from the coalition. This is about real families; this is about real kids; this is about real communities. And you have let them down, Senator McKenzie, you have let them down by your craven approach to this issue.

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How shrill.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here's another hero.

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have listened to you, Senator Cameron, and I have listened to Senator Carr. How shrill you are, when for six years you presided over the manufacturing industry. Yet, Senator Carr has the gall to talk of lies. He brings that into this chamber, Senator Cameron. I see that you are exiting the chamber. 'Lies,' he says, 'lies.' It is very emotive. He did not say that in his press conferences, but he comes in here and talks about lies. I will tell you what is a lie—'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead,' and 'We will have a green car policy, but, no, we won't, because we'll rip $1.2 billion out of it.' This is what has happened to the sector: the carbon tax has been a $460 million impost on the industry sector. Senator Gallacher belled the cat in an earlier contribution to this chamber—it is in Hansard. He has worked it out, and he is from the TWU. So, I presume his patriarchal master, Tony Sheldon, the national president of the Transport Workers Union, knows this too.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Secretary!

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Secretary, thank you. What did they do? He said this morning that the coalition has a mandate—he agrees that we have a mandate—to abolish the carbon tax. What are those opposite doing? In this chamber they are stalling it.

What is going on in the car industry and what is going on with unions is completely dysfunctional. What has gone on? We have had 12e years of Labor in South Australia. Rabbits in the headlights, they are. We have a sector that has suffered with a high Australian dollar. What do Toyota, Holden and Ford—and Mitsubishi before them—have in common?—the cost of manufacturing. You heard from Senator Abetz: if the workforce had its way and if the unions had not stood in their way, there might have been another 2,000 working days on the floor each year. Now, that is productivity gain, but the workers were not allowed to do that. What happened to the car industry was systematic dysfunction. And what about the policy settings of the green car funds and the carbon tax? Then there was that $1.8 billion clanger—the FBT, just on the eve of the election. That worked! Cripple the industry by sending messages to the owners of these businesses about policy settings that the Labor Party provided the Australian environment. You were all over the place—'There'll be no carbon tax. We'll have green car funds; we'll put $1.2 billion into it. Oh, no, we won't; we can't balance the budget so we'll rip it out of there. Nobody will notice.' But they did notice. It was not on our watch; it was on your watch. You set the dysfunction in place, and you are totally responsible.

By the way, last week in South Australia we had Senator Farrell, who is leaving this place on 30 June, wanting to go to the northern suburbs of Adelaide to represent those poor people from Holden out there in the seat of Napier. What happened? There was a factional stitch up, and he was not allowed to. I quite like Senator Farrell; I have always found him to be a straight-shooting bloke. He wanted to introduce some intellect into that area. What do the members for Little Para, Newland, Playford, Light, Taylor and the current member for Napier have in common? Apart from being silent on this issue, they are all from the Labor Party. There has been 12 years of dysfunction in that area.

Senator Farrell wanted to go there to try to fix it, but Minister Michael O'Brien—not to be confused with our colleague in the Victorian Liberal Party—stood aside to let Senator Farrell come in. But what happened? The lefties stitched Senator Farrell up and snuffed out his political career. I feel he could have worked with the coalition government on arresting the dysfunction that Labor has put into the car industry.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If anyone needs a demonstration of the abject poverty of the coalition's position on manufacturing, they only need read Senator Edwards's contribution. This government has presided over the death of a $21.5 billion industry, and we get that sort of nonsense and rubbish as a contribution by Senator Edwards. I do not think he has done his party any service, he certainly has not done the Senate any service, and he is doing the people of Australia absolutely no service at all.

We are talking about an industry which employs up to 50,000 highly skilled workers. That means 50,000 highly skilled jobs are set to go from Victoria, and all you can do is talk about some nonsensical local political stuff. You have no understanding—as the coalition has no understanding—of the policy settings required to save an industry. There are 2,900 Holden workers in Victoria and South Australia, and they are set to lose their jobs in 2017. From Toyota in Victoria 3,500 jobs will go in 2017. Ford will be sacking an additional 300 workers soon, two years ahead of its decision to close completely in 2016. In total 1,200 jobs will go at Ford.

But the even bigger costs are in the supply chain. Each car produced in Australia has around 30,000 parts. Car manufacturers spend $2.5 billion every year with Victorian suppliers alone, and those companies together employ 18,000 full-time workers. It is estimated that, Australia-wide, 30,000 people supplying parts and components in the car industry will be impacted by the decisions to close. But the impact will be even greater than this. Allen Consulting Group, using economic analysis from Monash University, found that if Australia lost its car manufacturing, which we are now set to do, Australia's GDP would be $7.3 billion smaller by 2018. Furthermore:

Employment losses in Melbourne would equate to some 33,000 jobs in 2018, and around 6,600 in Adelaide.

… employment levels would not return until around 2027 for Melbourne and 2025 for Adelaide.

These are catastrophic figures. Yet when it is put to the government, 'Why didn't you act quicker?' they come back with this response: 'The decisions were already made. There was nothing we could do.' But that shows great ignorance about what is necessary to assist with long-term planning and to get the policy settings right for the automotive industry.

The coalition in the lead-up to the last election and through the election campaign announced that they were going to cut $500 million from car assistance over a long period, and these threats must have sent shudders through the boardrooms of Ford, Toyota and Holden. These threats, and the goading by Mr Hockey of GMH to get up and leave the country, must have had a major impact. Then there is the fact that the coalition tried to explain to us that Toyota was not under threat, because it had a different business model: that, on the whole, its cars were being exported. But again the coalition in its ignorance failed to understand that, once a critical mass in the car supplying, technology and R&D industries is lost, you make it unviable for companies to continue. It is so disappointing that the government failed to understand this and then came back and said, 'We didn't know; there was nothing we could have done anyway.'

At this very moment there is a delegation of shipbuilders in this building. The shipbuilding industry is also under enormous pressure, and the delegation has sought meetings with the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott; the Treasurer, Joe Hockey; the Minister for Industry, Ian Macfarlane; the Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb; and the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann. Not one of these ministers has yet agreed to meet with the delegation. Some have blatantly refused, and some have simply ignored the request. So when they say, 'We didn't know; what is it we could have done?' they rejoice in their ignorance. They do not want to know. They do not meet with people who have information from the coalface, and that means that they can be happy in their ignorance when things go bad. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.