Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Welfare payments and lost tax revenue from an industry shut-down are projected to exceed $20 billion across the country, and it will be more than 10 years before the economy recovers from the underlying hit to GDP. These are the facts when it comes to South Australia. These are the facts that those members opposite should come in here and justify if they are going to support this bill.

We know that gross regional product in Adelaide will not recover until 2031—nearly two decades away—as a result of the decisions of this government, and as a result of members opposite and how they vote on this bill. But it is clear that since the election South Australia has been absolutely abandoned by the Abbott government. The South Australian members opposite are more concerned about their own jobs than those of the workers in our home state. Every step of the way, South Australians have been promised one thing and then given the exact opposite. Before the election we know that the Prime Minister told South Australians, 'I want to see car-making survive in this country—not just survive but flourish.' That is what he told voters before the election.

In July last year the member for Sturt—sadly, the most senior South Australian Liberal that we now have; a South Australian frontbencher—went and met with Holden workers. This is what he told the media afterwards. He said, 'I have a long-standing commitment to keep Holden operating in South Australia.' Well, didn't that commitment fly out the window as soon as the election came and went!

We know that both the Prime Minister and leading South Australian members have completely trashed the industry and are now trying to stick the boot into Holden further with the bill that is before the House. On our side, we will stand up for every one of those Holden workers. We will stand up for South Australian jobs and we will stand up for the South Australian economy.

Of course we know that there is a pattern that has been emerging when it comes to those opposite and the way that they treat South Australian jobs, because we also heard before the election defence minister Senator Johnston tell South Australians:

We will deliver those submarines right here at ASC in South Australia.

He said:

The Coalition today is committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide.

Well, surprise, surprise! That commitment, too, has flown out the window. In exactly the same way as Holden workers been betrayed we now see the betrayal in our shipbuilding yards.

It looks as if the Abbott government will buy their submarines from abroad, instead. With South Australian having 27,000 defence jobs—3,000 of them in shipbuilding—this will further crush our economy by sending even more South Australian jobs offshore.

Before the election, the Prime Minister told South Australians there would be no cuts to health and education, but of course we have also seen that that is an utter falsehood. Yet again, I say: look at this speakers' list. Not a single South Australian member of the government will dare to stand up and try and justify this bill and these cuts.

We know that the Prime Minister is prepared to play chicken with the livelihoods of Australian men and women but, unlike the South Australian members who sit opposite, I will not stand idly by and watch the Abbott government bring on the early closure of Holden and send even more Australian jobs off shore. I will not stand by and let this government continue to betray the South Australian workforce. In fact, my colleagues and I will do everything in our power to stop these cuts to the Automotive Transformation Scheme. We stand here and proudly say that we do not support this bill. We call on the crossbenchers and the minor parties to stand up for Australian jobs, to stand up for Australian manufacturing and to block these cuts in the Senate.

If there is ever any doubt from the government, crossbenchers or minor parties about how the early closure of Holden will affect our state, I invite them to visit Adelaide to speak to the workers firsthand and say directly to those workers what they intend to say in this chamber during this debate. We have seen the history here. We have seen what they actually have the guts to say to people's face. The Prime Minister said, 'I want to see car-making survive in this country, not just survive but flourish.' That is what he told the workers to their face. The education minister said, 'I have a longstanding commitment to keep Holden operating in South Australia.' That is what he had the guts to say to their face. Do not stand up in this chamber and say one thing about how these cuts are necessary. Do not stand up in this chamber and try and justify these cuts when not a single member opposite has the courage to say it directly to the Holden workers. I am willing to bet that they do not have the courage to go and say to the Holden workers what they are saying now, late on a Tuesday evening, to the parliament. So I invite them to speak firsthand to not only the workers at the Holden plant but also those working in the car components and related industries nearby, those working right across Australia supporting Holden workers and the auto industries, those running businesses in the north of our state that will also be wiped out if those opposite have their way.

You would be hard-pressed to find a South Australian who will not be affected either directly or indirectly if the economy takes the massive hit that this bill helps to encourage. It is why we will absolutely stand up in this place and say the same thing that we will say to Holden, the same thing that we will say to components manufacturers, the same thing that we will say to the workers who rely on us to stand up and fight for their jobs—and that is that on this side of the House we have your back. On this side of the House we will actually stand up and fight for the local economy. We will fight for manufacturing and we will fight for South Australia despite the ongoing betrayals by those opposite who have broken every commitment they have made and betrayed all of those workers who relied on them keeping their word.

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