Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Given the challenges that are facing the auto industry, many people in this country are asking where the Prime Minister has gone. Where is the Prime Minister when, as opposition leader, he chose to stand in front of thousands of workers, using them as props during doorstops and professing his support for those workers for four years?

The question now being asked of the government—indeed, of the Prime Minister—is: where is he now, when the auto industry is facing so many challenges?

We all recall how the then opposition leader travelled around the countryside, going to every workplace he could possibly get an invitation to, standing with his hard hat and high-visibility vest and claiming his support for workers. He may have been concocting all sorts of scaremongering fantasies about carbon pricing, but the one message that Australian workers are reminded about is that he was going to be there to defend their interests. We have seen since the election that he is nowhere to be seen. He is nowhere to be seen when it comes to dealing with the announcement made by Qantas last week. He is nowhere to be seen when dealing with the concerns and challenges facing the auto industry, particularly Holden.

By way of contrast, Labor has always committed itself to supporting this very important sector. Labor has committed itself to the long-term success of the Australian car industry, not only given its strong track record of world-class innovation but also to support 250,000 jobs—250,000 workers no less and their families. For that reason it is absolutely critical that the government engages and supports this very important sector. Our automotive industry is a very rare commodity and one that all Australians should be proud of. Australia is one of only 13 countries in the world with the capacity to design and manufacture a motor vehicle. We are also the most open and competitive market in the world. Let there be no mistake: the car industry is central and critical to our capacity as a manufacturing nation. We need to ensure that this country continues to build things. This industry supports 50,000 direct jobs and 200,000 indirect jobs, jobs that provide many families in this country their livelihoods. For that reason we are calling on the government to do better.

Let us look at some other facts. The industry has committed to research and development of $700 million per annum. Its exports are worth $3.7 billion per annum. That is why Labor continues to be a staunch supporter of the car industry, aside from the jobs it creates.

We also know that the co-investment from the $2.7 billion that Labor invested in the industry will see $26 billion in new investment. That is, for every dollar of taxpayers' money that was put into this industry there will be a ninefold return. That is something that seems to be lost on many of those opposite. It is a big investment, for sure, but it returns a much bigger economic dividend for this nation. But today the Australian automotive industry is in crisis. This is a matter of national importance and it should be debated in this place.

Australia's car industry and the workers and the businesses depending on it deserve more than death by dithering at the hands of this government. Labor has put forward the case for this industry, for the billions of dollars it brings in investment, for the hundreds of thousands of workers it employs and the hundreds of small and medium enterprises it supports. Meantime, the government remains either blissfully oblivious or wilfully derelict in responding urgently to the situation.

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