Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too would like to take note of answers given by government senators to questions asked by Senator Wong and Senator Carr about the future of Australia's automotive industry. We keep asking questions of the government about the future of the automotive industry because the answers we get are totally unsatisfactory. They are not answers, in fact; they are just responses. They do not answer the question of whether or not this government will act to save the 200,000 jobs supported by the automotive industry. The responses we get offer no solace to Holden workers in my state who want to know how much longer they will have a job for. The responses we get only reveal that there are deep divisions in this federal government about whether or not Australia's auto industry and all those who work in it and rely on it should continue to be supported as they were under the former Labor government.

I know the Premier of South Australia is coming to Canberra this week to speak to the Prime Minister about the future of the car industry. I know he is passionate about saving the South Australian jobs in the car industry and doing what he can to secure a future for Holden and the 1,700 workers in South Australia that it employs.

I know that all South Australian Labor senators in this place and Labor members in the other place have spoken out in support of the auto industry and called on the federal government to step up to the mark and declare exactly what it plans to do. However, I do not know what South Australian Liberal senators are doing because they do not tell us. It is extraordinary. Over the last two days, in taking note on this important matter of the auto industry, we have not had one South Australian Liberal senator stand up and put their point of view. Not one!