Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Employment (Senator Abetz) to questions without notice asked by Senators Wong and Carr today relating to the announcement by GM Holden of its decision to cease its manufacture of cars in Australia by 2017.

Today is a sad day. It is a sad day for workers employed by General Motors Holden. It is a sad day for their families and for the communities in which they live. It is a sad day for suppliers, including component manufacturers, and it is a particularly sad day for my home state of South Australia and the state of Victoria where these operations exist.

I want to say something today, in this taking note of answers, about the way in which this government has approached these serious issues—which was exemplified again today by the contempt with which the Leader of the Government in the Senate treated serious questions about the plight of workers and their families and the importance of supporting workers and their families. The reality is that in their short time in office this government has spent most of its recent time working to drive Holden out of Australia and championing closure. Well, they have got what they were working for.

Let us go through the facts. Before the election and after, this government said, 'We will take $500 million out of the co-investment for the auto industry that the previous government had put on the table.' This was assistance that was about leveraging investment and jobs here in Australia, with returns not only to workers but also to our economy because of the importance of the manufacturing skills that the car industry contains. What did they promise after that half a billion dollars of cuts? Uncertainty. They said to a company that is competing in a global market that they were going to take half a billion dollars off the table for the industry and were not guaranteeing anything after 2015. That is the uncertainty they placed on General Motors Holden.

What they did afterwards was say, 'We are going to have a Productivity Commission review. We will have an interim report before Christmas and a final report next year.' In fact, Mr Macfarlane is on the public record as asking Holden to defer any decision as to whether or not it would continue operations until after the Productivity Commission had reported. That was the government's position. Then, all of a sudden, prodded into action because of the Treasurer's folding to the National Party on GrainCorp, the economic drys in the cabinet and the ministry decided that it was a good idea to try and start pushing Holden to make a decision before Christmas.

And what did they do? I have never seen a government have senior economic ministers backgrounding against a company, day after day, in the way that we have had the misfortune to observe in this last week. Who would have thought that we would see coalition senior ministers backgrounding the media and essentially championing the closure of General Motors Holden. But that is what we have seen from this government—a week of leaking and a week of putting pressure on Holden to make a decision. I again remind the chamber that this was all in the context of them having said to Holden, 'Don't make a decision until after the PC review.'

All of a sudden, they decided it was in their political interests to try and force Holden to a decision before the PC review. They started with backgrounding last week, and it broke on the ABC, was reported widely in the prints and clearly continued. Senator Abetz keeps saying, 'I am not going to respond. You don't believe everything that is written in the papers.' Well, I do not believe that journalists who are reputable would be making things up about coalition senior ministers backgrounding about the closure of Holden. We then had the Acting Prime Minister writing to the company to demand that they tell people whether or not they have made a decision to close. So on the one hand you have said to defer a decision, and then on the other you champion the closure and put pressure on them. I hope you are happy now, because they have made a decision. The contempt with which this government appears to hold this company and these workers was demonstrated today when I asked a serious question of the man who is supposed to be the Leader of the Government in the Senate—and what does he play politics with? The carbon tax.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is very important.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a complete disgrace you are! A straight question about workers and that is what you come back with. (Time expired)

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, if we are going to talk about a disgrace, the disgrace is your former government, the Labor government, and the disgrace of the mess that they left this government and the disgrace that we in this government now have to face it. Interestingly enough, we had two or three questions on the car industry and then it was dropped to go on to the other great strength of those opposite, border protection. Senator Kim Carr, can I remind you that when you were the minister one job was lost in the car industry every 19 minutes—that is, three jobs every hour that you were the minister and 72 jobs a day when you were the minister. So don't you come into this place and tell us. You are the hypocrite, Senator Carr, when you come into this place and now try to blame the coalition for a decision that was six years in the making. Don't you come into this place and tell us that story.

Yes, of course, today's announcement that Holden is closing down is a very disappointing one. Holden is an iconic Australian company. It has a very rich Australian history. This decision is disappointing not just for its workers and its suppliers but for all Australians. I remind the Senate that the government was working in a measured and methodical way to assist Holden with their significant challenges as they were adjusting to the high value of the Australian dollar and a highly competitive and fragmented market.

The government has done its very best to support Holden and the automotive industry more generally in this difficult period. The government stands by its position that the Productivity Commission was the best placed body to independently assess all the information and details and to provide a final report by 31 March next year. It was the former Labor government that created the significant sovereign risk in relation to the car industry by continually flip-flopping and chopping and changing policy settings affecting the industry. Yes, it is very disappointing news today but this government has always and will always follow due process and, unlike those opposite, keep our commitments to the people of Australia. As the Treasurer said recently, the future of the car industry is in the hands of the car industry itself.

I take you to the announcement that GM made today. I will quote it again just in case, former Minister Carr, you were not listening when Senator Abetz quoted it. So I am going to quote it to you again. It says:

We are completely dedicated to strengthening our global operations while meeting the needs of our customers … The decision to end manufacturing in Australia reflects the perfect storm of negative influences the automotive industry faces in the country, including the sustained strength of the Australian dollar, high cost of production—

I repeat that for you, 'high cost of production'—

small domestic market and arguably the most competitive and fragmented auto market in the world.

So what would those high costs of production be? Try the carbon tax, which Holden estimates is about $45 per locally made vehicle; the rates of company tax; the fringe benefits tax. Let us go back to Labor's record on cars. You have absolutely no plan whatsoever. You have no plan, you have no vision and you belted the car industry around. In the last two years, you broke $1.4 billion of your promised funding commitments as you chopped and changed, and that is on top of the carbon tax, which slugged the sector with a further $460 million bill at the worst possible time. Julia Gillard promised $34 million for Ford, which she said would create 300 jobs—another broken promise. In eight months 330 jobs were gone. (Time expired)

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After the Acting Prime Minister's letter to General Motors of yesterday, there was a decision taken in Detroit. So the letter was received yesterday afternoon and a decision was taken in response to that letter, that reckless, cavalier correspondence from the Acting Prime Minister. While the Prime Minister is out of the country, the Acting Prime Minister manages to blow up General Motors Holden. Well, what an achievement is this dishonest and cowardly attack that has occurred on this company, replicated day after day after day by senior members of the coalition and demonstrated on the ABC last Thursday night whereby they said that they had already made a decision. Of course, their aim was to force a decision by General Motors before Christmas.

We all know the truth of this matter. As the minister, I was able to be privy to a series of negotiations with General Motors about their situation in Australia and I know the opposition—that is, the coalition—was fully briefed on the situation at General Motors and they have known for some time what the actual situation has been with General Motors, given what the company's letter of today indicates. The increase in the value of the Australian dollar has increased the costs of production in Australia by as much as 65 per cent, as they have referred to in this letter. The company had said to the Labor government, 'We need to look at the arrangements which occur around the world and we need to look at the business case in Australia,' and this government was provided with the same information when they came into office. As for the government, at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide, Minister Macfarlane said he wanted the company to defer any decision until such time as the Productivity Commission had reported. But yesterday the Acting Prime Minister wrote a letter to General Motors and demanded an immediate answer. And of course they have now got their immediate answer.

They have got their immediate answer, and the actions in the House of Representatives yesterday—following, as I say, seven days of abuse of this company by senior members—meant that the industry insider said that the company felt 'bullied and hectored'. What a hell of a way to run a foreign investment strategy in this country, to bully and hector a major manufacturing company—probably the biggest manufacturing company in Australia; probably the most important company in Australia because it stands at the centre of ensuring the terms of our industrial R&D in this country. It is a company which has, in fact, contributed, according to its advice, in return for $1.8 billion in Commonwealth assistance, $1.4 billion in tax revenue, and it has paid $21 billion to other businesses over the past 10 years. It is a company that has made a huge contribution to this country. The situation now is we have a government which has sought, because of its ideological obsessions, to destroy this company's manufacturing capabilities in this country. We have a situation in which General Motors notes, in the statement that was issued at two o'clock today:

GM remains committed to the automotive industry in Australia and New Zealand. We recognize the need for change and understand the government’s point of view.

What is the government's point of view? First point: we take $500 million out of the industry. Second point: we attempt to establish a Productivity Commission inquiry, but demand immediate decisions. Third point: we heap abuse upon abuse upon abuse of this company's executives and this company's contribution to Australia.

What do you expect? What do you expect when you get the answer that you have asked for? You get the answer you have been demanding. You have pursued a vendetta against this company, and you have now got what you have asked for. You established a Productivity Commission inquiry—I have said for some time I was very, very concerned that what you were actually doing was establishing a coroner's inquiry, a post-mortem process. The only difference here is the coroner was actually pleased about the death. That is the situation with this government. They have been seeking this result. They have been pursuing a campaign against manufacturing in this country, particularly automotive manufacturing. They have campaigned against the international automotive industry; they have been playing chicken with this company, and we now have the result. The consequences are going to be a social and economic catastrophe for this country, and you, Minister, and your government are directly responsible.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I follow Senator Carr's hysterical and rather incoherent rant, and share with Senator Wong, quite frankly, that this is a very sad day. As a South Australian, it is a sad day to see 1,600 jobs at the Holden car plant disappear by 2017, and to see the flow-on effects that will no doubt impact on the South Australian economy.

But I have to say we were warned about this some time ago. Seven years ago in this place I stood up and I said that if Mr Kim Carr ever became industry minister, there would be no car industry in this country. And what followed was the full Chairman Mao outburst and rhetoric and 20 minutes of abuse about how I did not know what I was talking about. But Senator Carr himself has overseen for the past six years the closure of Mitsubishi and the announcement that Ford is going, and the legacy of his mismanagement, and the Labor Party's mismanagement, of the manufacturing industry in this country is the announcement by Holden today.

The tragedy of Senator Carr is that he suffers from veritaphobia. Veritaphobia is a fear of telling the truth, and this is what we have got on that side of the chamber. He will not acknowledge that his motivation and his interest in the motor vehicle industry were driven more by his factional powerbroking and his attempt to stifle the short cons in Victoria and by his desire to boost his faction ranks by unionising the workforce, giving them whatever they wanted to amass more union muscle for him. That was his interest. He was not interested in sustaining the industry as a whole; he was more interested in sustaining his union base. That is the power—the misuse and abuse of power—that we see from the other side of the chamber.

It is worth reflecting that after six years of Labor, we have $300 billion worth of debt in this country and nothing to show for it. No motor vehicle manufacturing industry.

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order going to relevance. The motion before the chair today is in relation to the automotive industry and the closure of Holden. I would ask you to bring the senator to the topic.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order, Senator McEwen.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is amazing: Senator McEwen is following in Senator Moore's footsteps of baseless and useless points of order. Couldn't you hear, Senator McEwen, the fact that you squandered $300 billion—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the chair.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

of borrowed money and we have no motor vehicle manufacturing industry to show for it. You might be proud of that legacy, but I certainly am not. Shame on you. You remained silent and forgotten through the entire years of the Labor government, and now you stand up here giving us pious rhetoric.

This is an opposition that is absolutely flawed, and it is so embarrassed by its own track record it is trying to blame others for its mismanagement. I have to say that I thought Senator Carr, with his fear of the truth, his veritaphobia, actually let something slip; he blurted out something during his question today. In one of the questions he asked he said the exit of Holden was 'tragic and unavoidable'. A true word is often spoken by a slip of the tongue, because Senator Carr presided over and saw all the inside nitty-gritty about the industry when he was industry minister and he put it in the too-hard basket. He said: 'No, I don't want to deal with this. I've borrowed $300 million on behalf of the Australian people, but I don't want to save their manufacturing industry.'

I am sick of the hypocrisy on the other side. We inherited a basket case of a budget. There is no doubt about that. We were elected to fix up the mess that Labor created; the legacy of Labor's six years, their torrent of abuse of office, is going to be with us for some time yet. Holden, unfortunately, is a casualty of that. There are 1,600 jobs going in my state of South Australia, and the flow-on effects are going to be felt for years and years to come. But the blame, fairly and squarely, lies with poor government management by the Labor Party over the last six years.

Senator Carr would have the people of Australia believe that somehow General Motors in Detroit last night just said: 'Let's shut down our South Australian and Victorian manufacturing facilities. Let's do that at a cost of some $600 million.' Unfortunately, we know the Labor Party is cavalier about $600 million, $1 billion and $100 billion, but General Motors are not. They would have been looking at and examining for many years the consequences and the potential costs. We know there are unavoidable issues attached to manufacturing in this country—the high dollar, the tyranny of distance, the relatively small market and so on—but Senator Carr and his cohorts in the Labor Party need to come clean and start telling the truth. (Time expired)

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

I too would like to take note of answers given by Senator Abetz and others today.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just me.

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

Just Senator Abetz. Well, that is sufficient.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And that is what the motion says, Senator Farrell.

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

I would like to approach this issue from a slightly different angle than the other two speakers from our side. I would like to start by complementing Mr Abbott on what a terrific Leader of the Opposition he was. His relentless, destructive negativity as Leader of the Opposition worked a treat. The only problem is he did not stay as the Leader of the Opposition.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pity the people got it wrong! What arrogance!

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

Senator Abetz, we have now seen in this country the consequences of electing somebody like Tony Abbott as leader of this country, as Prime Minister.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Mr Abbott' to you.

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

Yes, Mr Abbott, the Prime Minister. We have now seen the consequences of letting this man become Prime Minister. On 7 September, Mr Abbott said to the Australian people, 'Australia is open for business.' Tell that to the thousands of Holden workers who today found out that their company is going to close in this country. Tell that to the extra thousands of suppliers who are going to lose supply contracts. This is not just about South Australia and Victoria, where of course these factories are located. Holden is an Australian icon. It is a tragic day when we hear that this company is going to close.

Yesterday it was very clear that there was an emergency on our hands and we had to do something to try to save this company. We know Minister Macfarlane was keen to do it and wanted to do it. What did the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Truss, do? He wrote a letter to the company. Given what we know about the circumstances and what we know about the urgency of the issue, why didn't he ring Mr Devereux? He had just left the Productivity Commission hearing. Why didn't he get on to him and say, 'What do we need to do urgently to save this company?'

The government quoted Senator Kim Carr exhaustively during question time. We know from what Senator Carr has said that it was not going to take very much money to save this company—$150 million or thereabouts was going to keep the company in Australia, keep the company manufacturing cars and keep all of those people in South Australia and Victoria in jobs. Why didn't the government do it? Minister Macfarlane wanted to do it. Where was Minister Pyne? Minister Pyne comes from South Australia—

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sadly.

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

Yes, very sadly. He is the only South Australian minister in the Abbott cabinet. Where was he? Why wasn't he standing up for South Australia?

We know that the workers themselves understood the severity of this problem. They made concessions. John Camillo, who is a tremendous trade union leader, ensured that the workers at the Holden factory in South Australia made some concessions. They were prepared to make concessions. Minister Macfarlane was prepared to make concessions. The opposition were prepared to back the government on this. There could have been a bipartisan position, but the government dropped the ball. It has been under their watch that that great Australian icon has announced it is closing down. I think it is a tragedy that this has occurred. It was avoidable. We could have saved this company. We could have continued to manufacture in this country. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.