Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) to questions without notice asked by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Minchin) and Senator Abetz today relating to the national broadband network and to the luxury car tax surcharge exemption.

The humiliating need by Labor to introduce a luxury car tax amendment bill—or, more correctly, the ‘Labor Incompetence Correction Bill’—highlights how Labor handles public policy issues. The luxury car tax surcharge was born out of old-fashioned class warfare. But the simple fact is that it has not deterred and will not deter to any great extent those people that can afford to buy the genuine luxury cars. It will do what we the opposition predicted it would do—hurt Australian farmers, Australian tourism operators and Australian car workers. Of course, now the Labor Party have rushed back into this place with the tax law amendment bill dealing with their faults in the luxury car tax. Senator Conroy tells us that he as a minister cannot speculate on legislation that is about to be introduced into this place, completely oblivious to the fact that his colleague that he represents in the other place had, in fact, not only introduced the bill but also given the second reading speech before lunchtime.

This is the disconnect that exists within this Labor government. The minister in this place, who should have been aware that the legislation was being introduced, was completely and utterly oblivious. When you do point it out to him, all you get is abuse hurled back at you. This is Labor public policy for all to see, and it does not reflect well on them. The car industry in this country is going through a massive problem. What do we have? The first thing Labor does is introduce a luxury car tax. Then it introduces regulations to ensure, just in case four-wheel drives are exempted in certain categories, that the four-wheel drive Ford Territory will not be a beneficiary of the exemption. This is Labor incompetence shown and disclosed to the world at large. This is undermining the confidence of investors and purchasers of Australian motor vehicles.

On top of that, we now have the bungled bank guarantee legislation which has seen the flight of capital from the non-guaranteed institutions to the guaranteed institutions. Guess who the first casualties are: the car dealers and the consumers that rely on finance—in relation to their floor plans and their purchases of motor vehicles respectively. That has been another whammy to the Australian car industry. And what do Senator Carr and Mr Rudd do? They bring in their $6.2 billion plan—so called—to save the car industry. But what they are providing is a long-term diet for a car industry that is haemorrhaging as we speak. The $6.2 billion is of no assistance to the car dealers. If we do not have car dealers and people purchasing from car dealers, it obviates the need for Australian car manufacturers to make cars. I invite the government to take a holistic approach to the Australian car industry and address all of the needs.

I also make this plea to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr, who is allegedly in charge of the car industry: do not dabble in foreign affairs; it is way beyond your capacity and comprehension. His silly partisan commentary in relation to the United States and the US congress not passing certain legislation and his trying to blame the conservative side of politics, the Republicans, has now exploded in his face because President-elect Obama has said that the congress was right to refuse the passing of the legislation. So here we have the accident-prone Senator Carr condemning the United States Republicans only to have Democrat President-elect Obama confirming that the congress in fact did the right thing. I suggest, Senator Carr, that you stop playing in foreign affairs and deal with the issues facing the car industry today. The fundamental issue is the finance package so desperately required for the car dealers of this country.