Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

How quickly this coalition opposition has moved to the point of being so inward looking—an opposition for the sake of opposition. This is a fantastic announcement by Toyota and one that actually came to the fore as a direct consequence of government intervention and government assistance. This is a serious coup for this country. We now have the future of the car industry completely secured in terms of Toyota. Constant work will be done in terms of the $500 million green car fund to work with other manufacturers to take us to the next level in this industry, being hybrid technology, and to reduce our emissions from vehicles across the board.

The vehicle industry is a great industry in this country. As the opposition have demonstrated today, instead of supporting this wonderful announcement by Toyota—they should be congratulating the government for its intervention—they have failed to acknowledge the real value of this industry, which gives 60,000 workers jobs. It not only does that but also provides a critical mass for research and development, the training of engineers, the training of tradespeople and flow-on effects such as high-tech plastics manufacturing. This only happens because we actually have a vehicle industry here. There are so many industries—whether it be glass manufacturing or tyre manufacturing—where we bring in skills to have the critical mass to provide state-of-the-art technology, which then flows through to the rest of the economy. A lot of the industries that hang off the vehicle industry in this country then provide a critical mass for other technologies, which benefits other industries. If we lose the vehicle industry in this country—and the opposition seem to take the view that we should sit on our hands doing nothing—it will not only affect the 60,000 whose employment is a direct result of the vehicle industry but also have the massive flow-on effect of reducing the skills and technologies available for other industries.

It is crucially important for this country to maintain a high-tech vehicle industry. We are going through a stage where, due to climate change, the shortage of oil and the cost of petrol, we are moving to cleaner, greener and more efficient technologies. It is absolutely essential for this country to be at the leading edge of that. It is amazing that the opposition seems to criticise this decision. This is a decision by Toyota in conjunction with this government—this proactive government—that should be applauded by those opposite. As someone who has had a long association with the Victorian car industry, I am just amazed at the cavalier attitude of the opposition in stooping to talk down this industry—to say that we should not be intervening—when they clearly have no understanding of the importance of this industry to us.

What does the opposition see as so wrong with an announcement that will produce 10,000 hybrid Camrys a year from 2010? What is wrong with that? Why aren’t they applauding that decision? It is a fantastic decision. It is a significant coup for Australia, and I am delighted that Toyota has decided to invest in the Australian car industry and build the hybrid car here. I am delighted with that aspect. It is not just doing so because of the $35 million from the Australian government; it is a commitment to this industry and recognition that we have the skills base and the innovation base to build those cars here. It is a great endorsement of that industry and it creates a massive investment from Toyota itself. This does not just go to $35 million; Toyota itself will be investing many times that amount in getting the plant ready.

It is a capital grant—it is $35 million—but let us put it into context: it is about a third of the amount that the coalition spent on advertising the Work Choices legislation. But this strategic amount of money has got us the development and the innovation that will come to Australia through Toyota to build this plant here. It is an absolutely amazing result for this government and it is one that should be applauded. It is being applauded by industry. (Time expired)