Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. What is the government doing in response to Ford's announcement last week? And how is the government making sure that communities and manufacturing industries affected by this decision are treated fairly and not left behind?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister has the call and has the right to be heard in silence.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for his question—and the circumstances of 1,200 Ford workers are no laughing matter. The workers involved are clearly still dealing with the stress and shock which comes with being told late last week that their jobs will not be continuing after October 2016. This is a very serious matter, and I can assure the House it is taken very seriously by the government.

As a result of our view that working people in these circumstances must be treated with dignity and respect, the government has already announced that for the individual Ford workers involved—the nearly 1,200 workers who now know that their jobs will not be continuing—we will roll out the most intensive form of employment assistance, working with them to help them find another opportunity beyond their jobs at Ford.

What I can certainly say about those working people is that they are highly skilled; they are proud of what they do because they are so highly skilled. You meet people who have got their skills in the automotive industry in so many other walks of life, and we will work with them to seize a new opportunity.

Second, we understand that this announcement by Ford has implications up the supply chain for those who work making the components that Ford uses, which is why we have already announced that we will add to a current program—a $30 million program—an additional $10 million of investment from the federal government and $2 million of investment from the Victorian state government to work with those component companies in the supply chain to keep diversifying their opportunities to sell their products.

We understand that this is a serious matter for the communities of Geelong and the greater region—and, of course, I am asked this question by the member for Corangamite and this is of very great significance to the area he represents in this parliament. It is also of very great significance to the area of Broadmeadows and associated areas in Melbourne's north and west where people who work at the Broadmeadows plant live. So we have allocated $30 million, joined by $9 million from the Victorian government, and we call on Ford to make a sizeable contribution in order to assist with getting new opportunities and new sources of growth into those regional economies.

We will keep working with local communities, with Ford workers and with suppliers. I am very determined, despite the shock of this news for those people, that no-one is left behind and that the government works with them to seize a new opportunity for the future.

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to her statement to Ford workers in January last year that giving $34 million to the company would:

… see the number of jobs grow. There will be an additional 300 jobs as a result.

Given the company cut 330 jobs only six months later and is now ceasing manufacturing in Australia altogether, costing 1,200 jobs at Ford, when will the Prime Minister visit Ford again to personally apologise to those workers for telling them— (Time expired)

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. To the member's question: first, as she should know, that $34 million investment was to secure work on the models that are going to be produced by Ford up until October 2016, so we made that commitment to secure the jobs of working people not only at Ford but up the supply chain and it was the right thing to do. I understand that the member for Indi has a different approach: she wants to rip at least half a billion dollars out of industry support and up to $2 billion dollars out of industry support—that is, she is advocating a plan that would be crushing for the Australian automotive industry.

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will return to the question.

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on a point of order on relevance: the question was not about reiterating the misleading statements the Labor Party has made but answering the issue about the $34 million.

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Indi will resume her seat. The Prime Minister has the call and will be relevant to the question before the chair.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about apologies. I think the member for Indi should apologise, along with the Leader of the Opposition, for their plan to cut assistance to the automotive sector by $500 million. They should apologise for standing for a plan that would cut in half assistance to 2015. They should apologise for standing for a plan that puts at risk the jobs of every auto worker in this country—that is, 50,000 direct jobs at Holden, Toyota and dozens of suppliers and a further 200,000 jobs in related industries. The member for Indi and the Leader of the Opposition should apologise for that.

On this side of the parliament, unlike those opposite, we stand for jobs and growth. We stand for working with manufacturing to ensure that it is a source of strength for the Australian economy into the future and we will not endorse the opposition's plans to cut to the bone, including cutting industry assistance to the bone, and potentially seeing tens of thousands of Australians thrown out of work.