Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Employment has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

The Australian Government is aware of the report and the challenges being faced in North Melbourne and other regions affected by structural change. Transitioning from heavy industrial manufacturing to higher value added production calls for a national, strategic response rather than a piecemeal response based on hand-outs and subsidies.

In this respect, it should be noted that in 2012 the previous government announced a new subsidy to Holden, which it claimed would 'guarantee' its operations until 2022. This 'guarantee', of course, proved to be illusory. I also note the comments by senior General Motors management that the company would not have continued Holden's manufacturing operations in Australia, regardless of how much Government funding was provided. The same is true of Ford. Toyota, of course, was seriously undermined by the AMWU's court action to prevent its employees from even considering changes to its enterprise agreement that would have enabled the company's Melbourne operations to become more efficient and competitive, without impacting on pay and conditions.

I also note recent media reports on 1 December 2014 on the previous Government's automotive "assistance" policies, which stated that:

" The true scale of the former Rudd Government ' s waste in supporting the collapsing Australian car manufacturing industry is revealed with new figures showing taxpayers funded almost a third of the cost of each four-cylinder Ford Falcon.

" In 2009, $42 million of taxpayer money was pumped into the four-cylinder Falcon and two other fuel-efficient Ford vehicles under the $500 million " Green Car Innovation Fund " .

" The four-cylinder Falcon has effectively received a subsidy of almost $8000 on each $37,000 vehicle — or $11,600 on each car bought by private buyers and businesses if you exclude Ford ' s company car fleet. "

The Government understands the considerable impact the exits of Ford, Holden and Toyota will have on the region. That is why the Government announced a $155 million Growth Fund that supports initiatives to assist workers transition to new jobs, businesses find new markets and invest in capital equipment, and regions invest in infrastructure projects.

The Government is committed to helping more people into employment and provides a range of employment programmes and incentives to help job seekers get and keep a job including employment support available through Job Services Australia.

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