Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I will address through the chair, thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. But I intend to answer the question of Senator Kroger. For every single day I have been in this place I have sought to defend and protect the automotive industry. It is an industry I believe Australia needs. It needs it for a whole lot of reasons, including, I think, national security reasons, and I completely reject Senator McKenzie's suggestion that I am carping from the sidelines. I have been involved in this debate, I have given many speeches on the issue of the importance of the car industry and this is one more that I am going to give today.

I did see what Prime Minister Abbott said about the announced closure of Holden. He has called it a 'dark day', and he is right about that. It is a dark day. But it did not have to be a dark day. In fact, it could have been a bright day today. Had the owners of Holden Australia made a different decision—the decision I thought they ought to have made—it could have been a very bright day for the Australian manufacturing industry. Why didn't they make that decision that could have been a bright decision?

One of the reasons, we now find out today, is that Mr Abbott had made no contact with the Holden company since the election. Everybody in this country—from workers at the Holden factory to a minister in the government, to state ministers and state members of parliament—knew that there was a significant issue at hand in respect of Holden, that there was an important decision to be made, and yet we find out today that the Prime Minister of this country has not spoken to this company.

We know that there was one person in the Abbott cabinet who was interested and did attempt to save this company.