Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My advice to the Treasurer is this: stay silent and leave some of us in doubt as to your capacity. Do not speak and convince us.

There are 3,000 direct jobs at Holden. I do not know if the Treasurer has ever lifted the bonnet of a motor car, but if he had he would have seen that there are a lot of working parts, and they get made by component companies. Components are not all made by robots. They are not all made in Third World countries. They are made in Dandenong, in Bayswater and in South Australia. They are even made in Corangamite.

What we have is a government that has failed to do what it should have done. The Prime Minister cannot ring; he cannot talk to Holden. Those opposite do not even know how many people work in the industry. They cannot back their industry minister. They are certainly happy to background against the industry minister. They cannot even do what the Germans and the Americans do. This is world news: the Germans and the Americans, who subsidise their industries to levels that Labor would not recommend, at least back their industry.

Let me tell you why this Prime Minister should be censured. Holden has been here since 1948. It was a Labor Prime Minister, on 29 November, who waved hello to the first Holden motor car. It will be a Liberal Prime Minister who waves goodbye to the last Holden. Holden has been a good company to Australia.

Honourable members interjecting—

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