Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I just listened to the assistant minister. He bragged about job figures, but did not say one word of consolation to the workers who are losing their jobs tomorrow. Not one word of consolation did he offer them and their families about the jobs they've lost. Indeed, he argued this issue shouldn't be brought to the floor of the parliament. Well, I am proud to support the member for Wakefield, who has been doing an enormous job over many years supporting those workers at Holden as they face an unknown future. It is disingenuous of this assistance minister to come in and not even say, 'I'm sorry you're losing your jobs, and I'm sorry your future is uncertain now.' And now he runs out of the chamber—that is what we expect.

But tomorrow is an incredibly sad day. It's a sad day for those in Elizabeth, it's a sad day for Adelaide and it's a sad day for this nation. It is the loss of an iconic brand, the loss of an innovative industry and the loss of skills and expertise. Looking at how it all sums up, Julia Gillard described the potential of car manufacturing:

…Chifley wasn't just launching a car, he was building a nation—taking Australia into a future beyond wool and wheat.

And the industry lasted for seven decades, producing high-quality cars made by highly skilled workers at the forefront of innovation. These workers are casualties of this government.

Maybe I could stomach it if it were just indifference by this government—if it were just their not being active players and just letting this important industry go by the wayside. But it was not indifference that led to this. It was not incompetence—although I could raise many examples of where this government is incompetent. But it wasn't incompetence; it was pure, evil ideology that did not want to support an industry in Australia. I am not sure why; I am not sure whether they thought it was too unionised—I wouldn't put it past them—or whether they don't like building things and prefer to just take minerals out of the ground. Whatever the reason, it was an active decision by this government, the then Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, and also the current Prime Minister and the then Treasurer and the current Treasurer. They all sat around that cabinet table and made the decision. They might argue now that they had nothing to do with it, that it wasn't actually their decision. But we know. I was in this parliament when Joe Hockey, the then Treasurer, told Holden to 'put up or pack up'. That was the message he sent: put up or pack up.

I will read to you from an article back in 2013:

Holden remains unconvinced that the federal government intends providing any further assistance to the industry after 2016 …

This was at a critical moment in time, when Holden were deciding their future, and they went to the government and said, 'Please, we need some assistance for a long-term future,' and the government said no. The government said, 'We will not support you.' It was an outrageous decision that has led to the position we are in today. And of course the casualty is not just those Holden workers; it is components manufacturing right across South Australia, and in my own electorate it is being affected as well. Over the past few months we have seen job losses at Walker's Tenneco and 70 job losses at Monroe. This is just the start. We're looking at close to 12,000 jobs in total. The assistant minister who spoke previously said that perhaps these workers will take the Pathways program and get an internship while they're on the dole. That's a great option for them! Maybe they'll just work casually in aged care? What the assistant minister failed to recognise is that these workers who are losing their jobs are highly skilled and have a huge amount of technical ability. They need to be deployed in a way that is useful and productive for this country. Instead, their jobs have been ripped away by this government.

We all remember the respect this government has for South Australian workers. We remember when the then defence minister said that ASC workers 'couldn't even build a canoe'. That is the respect that this government gives to blue-collar workers in South Australia, workers who have a huge amount of technicality: they ignore them. (Time expired)

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