Holden - House of Representatives

Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (15:33): I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Gorton that this House condemns the Abbott government for its failure to protect Australian jobs in the automotive and manufacturing sector. I move an amendment to that motion: That all words after 'that' be omitted and the following words substituted: That this parliament pledges to work together to protect and support manufacturing and employment in Australia through policies that promote growth, particularly taxation and regulatory policies. This issue is far too important for the political game-playing that we are seeing from our Labor colleagues in the chamber today. The people in South Australia and Victoria and the Holden workers in both Melbourne and Adelaide are not really interested in the political game-playing by the opposition on this issue today. They are sitting in their homes and workplaces thinking that by 2017 at the latest they will have had to find new careers and new jobs to feed their families. The amendment that I move to the motion moved today by the member for Gorton reflects the fact that this parliament should rise above the petty point-scoring that we are seeing from the opposition on this issue, because there are hundreds of thousands of people in the manufacturing sector around Australia, not just the car workers. There are hundreds of thousands of families, workers, small-business people, whether it is in the component industry or other manufacturing, that are all affected by exactly the same issues that have impacted on Holden in their announcement today. Nobody seriously believes—do they?—that Holden is the only company in Australia that is affected by the high Australian dollar, high production costs, high real wages. That is what was reflected in the press statement that General Motors made from Detroit. They did not seek to blame the federal government, the state government or anybody else for what has happened to Holden. They very pointedly, clearly and factually set out why this commercial business decision was made in Detroit, probably in the last few months but communicated today. They said in the statement: 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, small domestic market and arguably the most competitive and fragmented auto market in the world. General Motors themselves made it perfectly plain. The opposition are still playing the games. It is pathetic. Mr Albanese: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker, as to whether the amendment moved by the Leader of the House is in order, because it contradicts the original motion that is before the House. The SPEAKER: The amendment is in order. Mr PYNE: As a South Australian—and I am not the only South Australian in the House—I understand how important the car industry has been. For years, people like me, the member for Hindmarsh, the member for Boothby and senators from South Australia have campaigned and argued for the car industry. Money from the taxpayer is not the reason General Motors Holden have made this decision today. There has been $1 billion to 2015 from the Australian taxpayer—$1 billion of taxpayers' funds—to support the car industry to— Mr Albanese: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It goes to your ruling. The motion is about 'automotive'. The amendment moved does not mention 'automotive' or the car industry—not once. Not once does it mention it, and therefore— The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. The standing orders permit such an amendment to be moved. Mr PYNE: Of course, manufacturing is the car industry so it is a relevant amendment to the original motion. Beyond 2015, $1 billion sits on the table for the car industry. So taxpayers' money is not the problem. If taxpayers' money was the problem, why would it be that, six months after the previous Prime Minister, Ms Gillard, announced a $275 million package for the car industry, in March 2012—and heralded it by saying 'through the announcement that we've made together today we know Holden will be here through to 2022'—Holden announced that they were reducing their workforce by eight per cent? That was in spite of the fact that the Premier of South Australia, Mr Weatherill, said, 'What we're guaranteeing is no job decline.' He said that in the paper on 24 March 2012, and then, six months alter, Holden reduced their workforce by eight per cent. All fair-minded people in this place and in the community know that there has been a tremendous amount of taxpayers' money put into the car industry over decades, not just since the Howard government's automotive plan. General Motors has made it absolutely clear today that the reasons they are closing the operations have nothing to do with the decisions the federal government made. Labor can spin their wheels and try their best to pretend to the Holden workers that this has something to do with the federal government. They will find it very hard to explain how, if it is our fault that Holden is closing its operations, it was not their fault that Ford closed their operations, that Mitsubishi closed their operations, or that the Olympic Dam expansion is not going ahead. They will find it very hard to explain why they thought support for the car industry was to make fringe benefits tax changes that hit the car industry with $1.8 billion of extra tax. They will find it very hard to explain to the people of my great state how a carbon tax that added to the cost of building a car did not have any impact on the car industry. It did not have any impact, apparently, on the car industry! Their hypocrisy is writ large in this debate. The sanctimony coming from the Labor Party is gut-wrenching. This goes beyond politics. I see the member for Kennedy here. He has been arguing for years for policies for the car industry, and other industries that we probably do not support. But at least he has been genuine from the beginning. I did not hear these howls of outrage and condemnation for their own government when Ford and Mitsubishi announced that they were closing. I do not remember the South Australian members of parliament standing up here and criticising the previous government when BHP said that sovereign risk, uncertain government policy, extra taxes and the demands of the union movement were the reasons that the Olympic Dam expansion was not going ahead. The public are not stupid. The public know full well what has been going on here in manufacturing in Australia. It is in the statement made by General Motors Holden. I ask the question, as a South Australian: what has my state government done in the last 12 years to diversify our state's economy? Why haven't they been putting resources into agriculture, education services, construction or the mining industry? Why didn’t they diversify our economy rather than relying on more and more taxpayers' dollars to keep a car industry here—an industry that said today that taxpayer dollars were not the reason they were staying in the first place and taxpayer dollars would not keep them here? Even if the Abbott government had announced another half a billion dollars for the car industry on top of the $1 billion that is already on the table, would it have kept the car industry here? It is very unlikely that it would have, because the decisions about this were made in Detroit. It was Detroit's decision not to allow Holden to export. There was a time a few years ago when Holden was exporting to the United States, when, in California, if you got into a police car—hopefully not!—or saw a police car, it was made by Holden at Elizabeth. They were exporting to the Middle East, one of their biggest export destinations. Then Detroit made the decision that Holden should not compete with their own operations in America by exporting to the United States and the Middle East. It was Detroit's decision not to reinvest in equipment at Holden at Elizabeth, to make the plant more and more competitive. The reason the House is basically quiet is that everybody knows this is true. All the political point-scoring in the world, all the outrage in the world, will not change the fact that what I am stating is known facts. I mourn what Holden has announced today, but unfortunately we have to work together to make it better for the future.