Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We cannot forget in this place the vision of Australia's Treasurer Joe Hockey, in a moment of hubris and spite, daring Holden to leave Australia. This government petulantly sent a message, 'Here's your hat; what's your hurry?' They can cite a high dollar and blame the configuration of the Australian car market but the reality is that this government has seen the demise of our car industry. Holden's leaving killed an ecosystem.

Close to my electorate is the Toyota plant. At the time, Toyota expressed a desire to stay in Australia. For the most part, the company had a profitable export market to the Middle East, plans to stay in the country and a sense of connectedness to Australia. Australia was the first country outside of Japan—in the English-speaking world—where Toyota chose to manufacture vehicles. The key for Toyota was a viable supply chain. So, when this government flippantly laughed at Holden's cry for help, it doomed Toyota as well. As the auto industry leaves, we are facing an estimated negative annual shock of $29 billion or two per cent of GDP.

The Toyota plant in Altona is set to close on 3 October. In order to minimise the impact and to protect the conditions and jobs of many very skilled workers, we had to act quickly on an effective transition strategy. The closure is imminent. The effect on families, individuals and communities, including mine, is imminent. When we return to this parliament after a four-week break, the proof of the pudding of the planned transition and support will be known. But we do know some things already. We know that the federal government's response has not been what we would have wanted it to be. Reporting on the effectiveness of the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund—the fund established by the Gillard government in 2013 and taken over by the coalition after the September 2013 election—reveals a sad reality: that the coalition has butchered the project implementation. For instance, in July of this year, AusIndustry, a division of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, reported that the GRIIF grant recipients were allowed to report their own job creation figures. Only 71 per cent of the supposed 890 jobs have been audited to ensure they are real. To make matters worse, AusIndustry reported there was no data kept on the number of full-time, part-time or casual jobs, which makes it very difficult to assess its effectiveness.

The Automotive Transformation Scheme has been underfunded. Figures obtained by Senator Xenophon from the Parliamentary Budget Office clearly showed that $1.24 million of the money allocated to support the transition of car manufacturing simply has not been spent. The government's response to a recommendation from the Senate Economics References Committee report on the future of Australia's automotive industry speaks to their apathy regarding the plight of affected workers. The report recommendation simply reads:

The committee recommends redefining the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) into a broader, automotive-related advanced manufacturing, engineering and design program that is intended to maintain skills and industrial capabilities and mitigate the loss of jobs by supporting supply chain diversification, new manufacturing investment and investment throughout the whole of the automotive industry.

The government flat-out rejected this recommendation, suggesting it had a range of programs designed to facilitate the transitions for particular industries. In the same response, this federal government suggested that, if the allocated funding were not spent, they would not roll over that funding to increase the pool of investment money. This government made it clear that, in its eyes, the money is only to be spent where there is what it deems to be eligible activity, and it would not ensure that the money would be set aside for eligible activity in future. It took the government two years to respond. That is how much they care about auto workers who will soon be out of a job in my community. This apathy and neglect are already having an impact. People are disheartened.

In contrast, the Victorian government's response has been speedy and direct. It is leading the way. While their Local Industry Fund for Transition, LIFT, is being done in cooperation with the federal government, the way they are using that money on the ground is very different. Unlike their federal counterparts, they are committed to placing former automotive workers into any newly created jobs. They are also taking a proactive approach to reaching out to affected businesses in the supply chain and assisting them to transition with their $5 million Automotive Supply Chain Transition Program.

To affected workers: Labor stands by you. Please make sure you are registered at Sunshine polytechnic, where you will be given information on opportunities to upskill, and please contact my office if you need help clarifying information or accessing support.