Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Now that Mr Devereux has had the opportunity to speak to his workers, I say on behalf of the government—together with the Minister for Industry, the Acting Prime Minister, the member for Sturt and all members—that we will work closely with the government of South Australia, the opposition in South Australia, the unions and all of the stakeholders to ensure that the fact that Holden are leaving in 2017 will not lead to a significant economic downturn in South Australia or Victoria. We will do everything we can to assist during this transition. This is hugely important and we will do it, because it is not a surprise that this should have happened. The members know it is not a surprise—and why? An OECD report to the member for Lilley in 2012, when his own former chief of staff was at the OECD, recommended:

As underlined by the authorities, there is a case for help to smooth the transition, but not preventing it, when its pace and scale make it difficult to absorb, for instance at the regional level.

That was written in relation to the closure of car plants in Australia.

The facts are that the car industry in Australia has had enormous financial support from taxpayers. During the period when there has been a significant reduction in activity in Australia, the government—whether Labor or Liberal—has provided enormous financial support: over $1 billion a year. But the net result is that we have seen a halving in the production of Australian cars on a world scale. These are the things that we have to deal with in order to address some of the challenges for Holden—(Time expired)

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