Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry. I refer to the Victorian Liberal government yesterday joining the South Australian government in calling for the federal government to return the $500 million it had cut from autoassistance. Given Holden's announcement today, why was this government so complacent about Australian jobs?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How quickly the opposition degenerate to raw politics. When the workers of the Holden factory are going through an extraordinarily traumatic time—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is too much noise on my left. The members for McMahon and Adelaide will desist.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

there is not one word of sympathy from those who sit opposite. There is not one word of 'We'll cooperate with what this government puts in place, to ensure the industry and economic diversity of Adelaide is continued.' Not one word. Straight to the politics—the problem that they created. They were the ones who were in power for the last six years—

Mr Bowen interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for McMahon will desist. The member for Wakefield has asked his question; he will desist.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They were the ones who oversaw the industry lose two manufacturers—half the manufacturing capacity. They are the ones who laid the foundation for this closure. They are the ones who failed to address the fundamental economic issues that are affecting Holden. They are the ones who would not even revoke the carbon tax to try to help Holden. They would not even be a part of that. I am asked specifically about cuts in funding. It brings to mind—

Mr Danby interjecting—

if I can get a word in edgeways—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Melbourne Ports is warned!

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Excellent.

Mr Danby interjecting—

Keep going. Are you going to warn him, Madam Speaker?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just warned him.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those who interject the loudest have the most impact on this decision. They are the ones who were in government for six years. Let me just outline to the House, for their benefit.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kingston and the member for Adelaide will desist.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I left this portfolio there were 335,000 cars being made in Australia and when I resumed it, after the Labor Party, that number had dropped to 221,000.

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

250,000 jobs.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They continue to interject, but I will keep going. The reality is that the number of businesses involved—

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You couldn't stand up for—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Charlton will desist.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

had dropped from 200 to 150 under their watch—

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Ms Owens interjecting —

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta and the member for Rankin.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The amount of money taken out of the car sector was $1.23 billion by the Labor Party, two tranches of $400 million out of the green car fund and then finally the coup de grace of $430 million out of the Cleaner Car Rebate Scheme—$1.23 billion taken out by that government. We know, just to finish the industry off, they introduced a $1.8 billion fringe benefits tax, which drove sales, including Holden's, through the floor.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the workers?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Parramatta is warned!

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are hypocrites. They did nothing for six years and now they want to politicise the payment to the workers who have suffered today.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call the member for Hindmarsh to ask his question, we are clearly dealing with some serious issues today and the chamber would be well served if we could have some more silence and hear answers as well as questions.

Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to the announcement by General Motors, in Detroit, today regarding their Australian operations. What is the Treasurer's response?

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You got what you want.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I asked for silence, Member for Isaacs.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

Order! The member for Jagajaga is warned!

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

I thank the honourable member for Hindmarsh for his question.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You got what you wanted, Joe!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Isaacs is warned!

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

Now that Mike Devereux has had time to speak to his workers, it is appropriate for us—

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Have an arm wrestle—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Wakefield is warned!

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

Obviously, they are not taking it too seriously. Now that Mike Devereux has had the chance to speak to his own workers, I want to provide—

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You got what you wanted, Joe!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs will remove himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Isaacs then left the chamber.

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

There wasn't that outrage around when, under Labor, Mitsubishi left and Ford left! Where was that outrage? Where was that outrage from Labor? What a surprise! Ford left and Mitsubishi left and Labor wasn't too outraged then.

Mr Bowen interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for McMahon is warned!

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

We are the ones who are concerned about the workers not only at Holden but at all of the components manufacturers associated—

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will resume his seat. There is a general warning to all those sitting on my left. This is a serious issue. As I said before, the questions are important and the answers are important.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the contradiction between a general warning—which, by definition applies to every member of the House—and the fact that you said—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I said, 'On my left.'

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is my point of order. It is not possible to have a general warning to just one side of the House, Madam Speaker.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Then I will name you one by one, if I have to.

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

Now that Mr Devereux has had—

Ms Macklin interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Jagajaga has already had a warning. If she wishes to leave under 94(a), that is just fine.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to 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)

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. I refer the Acting Prime Minister to his letter to Holden yesterday and to Holden's reaction to that letter, which was that the letter was 'designed for political consumption rather than being a genuine effort to communicate'. Haven't the government got exactly what they wanted, and won't Australia's workers pay for their failure?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the Honourable the Acting Prime Minister to answer that question, I would remind the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that you have to say from where the quote comes and show why it is relevant to the question. The quote had no source, so the question cannot stand. Can the deputy leader rephrase her question?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I can table the source.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I do not wish you to table. I wish you to—

Opposition members interjecting—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can table the source.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence! I said to the deputy leader that she can have the opportunity to rephrase her question and give the source in her question, as is the proper way to do it.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I can verify the source—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Re-read the question and rephrase it.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It comes from the Australian Financial Review 'Hockey dares GM to leave', and I table that.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not what I asked you, Deputy Leader. I will give you one more chance. I said: rephrase your question and give the source of the quote in the question.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. I refer the Acting Prime Minister to this article in the Australian Financial Review, which says that his letter to Holden was:

… designed for political consumption rather than being a genuine effort to communicate.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And whose quote are we talking about?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Haven't the government got exactly what they wanted, and won't Australian workers pay for their failure?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. On two points the question does not stand. In spite of your giving the Acting Leader of the Opposition an opportunity to rephrase her question, she still has failed to state the source: who she is quoting—

Opposition members interjecting—

The point of order is that the question is out of order. The second reason it is out of order is that the last part of the question was entirely hypothetical—it was argument, not a question—and therefore it cannot stand. The Manager of Opposition Business needs to get the questions right rather than simply expect you, Madam Speaker, to put up with questions that do not fit the standing orders.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the point of order, Madam Speaker: the verification that was provided refers to the Holden spokesperson making that comment and making that quote, and it was worded that way in the first instance. You then asked for it to be reworded with the verification, and that was done.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it was not.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In terms of the second half of the question, which has also been at issue: for the entirety of question time yesterday we saw the Treasurer daring the company to leave, and we are entitled to put that back to them.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not a point of order; that is going to argument. I simply said in the first place that the question, to be in order where you use a quote, must give the source of the quote which shows why it is relevant to the question and that that was not in the original question. So perhaps the deputy leader can have a last try.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Acting Prime Minister. I refer him to an article on the Australian Financial Review website which says, in the article:

A Holden spokesman said the company would not respond to Mr Truss’s letter, which it was felt was designed for political consumption rather than being a genuine effort to communicate.

Haven't you got what you wanted?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am going to let the question stand and call the Acting Prime Minister. But I would make this point: the standing order requires a quote to have a proper source, and 'a Holden spokesman' is getting very close to the line.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Obviously I am not competent to comment on the statements of a Holden spokesman; that is a matter for them.

Mr Bowen interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for McMahon has been warned. He will leave under 94(a).

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did indicate yesterday that I thought it was important for Holden to make their position clear so that Australians knew whether they intended to keep manufacturing in this country or not. Holden have made that statement now and, whilst I regret the nature of the statement and the fact that Holden are to downsize their operations in Australia, they have at least delivered certainty to the Australian marketplace and, in particular, certainty to their employees. Holden will continue to have a large number of employees in Australia but some will no longer—

Mr Conroy interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Charlton will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Charlton then left the chamber.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

be needed because of the closure of their manufacturing operations. This downsizing is going to occur over a period of four years and, for that reason, we as a government will stand ready to work with them—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Moreton then left the chamber.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to try and make this transition as smooth as possible. There is one other thing I would like to convey to the House from my discussions with Mr Devereux. He said in his statement that he would not be seeking to blame governments, either state or federal, for the decision that Detroit has made. They have—to use his words—confronted a perfect storm of events which are affecting their decisions about their future as a company, not just in Australia but in other parts of the world. The reality is that there are a number of things that have happened over a number of years which have made vehicle manufacturing in Australia less competitive than it once was. It is self-evident to us all that wages paid in Australia are much higher than wages in other parts of the world; costs in Australia are much higher than in other parts of the world. On the other hand, this is a country with a skilled workforce and the natural advantages of working in an environment where there can be a supportive community and people live in a pleasant lifestyle.

Ms Owens interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta will remove herself under 94(a).

The member for Parramatta then left the chamber.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government has sought to work with the motor vehicle industry to make its environment as satisfactory as possible so that they can manufacture and do so in a profitable way. I am not going to take the opportunity again to refer to what happened over the last few terms of government. The reality is we must face the situation as it is now and get on with helping the Holden workers to make a transition and helping the economy of South Australia to move into new areas where it can prosper and provide work for its people.