891 Adelaide

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

891 ABC Adelaide Breakfast with David Bevan and Matthew Abraham

25/02/2016

SUBJECTS: Holden plant at Elizabeth, Defence White Paper;

DAVID BEVAN: Well the Premier is off to the US in a few weeks' time, he's going to talk to General Motors Holden, trying to do as much- he says trying to do as much as he can to clear the way for the Punch Group to take over the old General Motors Holden site at Elizabeth so they can make cars- continue to make cars. Christopher Pyne is the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, he's Leader of the House and he joins us now. He's also having his own meetings. What's he up to? Good morning Minister.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning David, it's nice to have you back on air again.

DAVID BEVAN: Thank you, I appreciate your concern. Minister what have you been able to find in your latest round of negotiations with Holden?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I met with the Australian CEO and chairman of General Motors Holden, Mark Bernard yesterday here in Canberra and some of his senior team members. Obviously I wanted to impress upon him that the Federal Government is keenly following the developments around the Punch Corporation and the Elizabeth site and he assured me that General Motors would leave no stone unturned to make the proposal successful, if indeed it is a viable proposal and he indicated that if the proposal didn't go ahead, nobody would be able to say that it was General Motors' responsibility for its failure, so I think that's an important development.

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: So they- have they made it clear they won't get in the way or they will facilitate handing the plant over to a viable option?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That's right, they'll do everything they can if it's a viable option to make it happen and that's what we want from General Motors in Detroit. We want them to take this offer seriously, to be open minded about it, to work with Punch Corporation. Now if in the end it doesn't succeed because it was an unrealistic proposal, well that's one thing. But if it doesn't succeed because General Motors didn't give it every chance to succeed, then I and Jay Weatherill and the South Australian community will be rightly very upset about that but they gave me every assurance that they would not be doing anything to stymie this, they would do everything they could to make it happen, if it could happen and I was pleased with that.

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: Did you call this meeting hastily when you found out that Jay Weatherill was stealing your thunder on this, going off to Detroit?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No it's been in the diary for a couple of weeks..

DAVID BEVAN: Do you think it's going to happen?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Look I'm hopeful David, I don't think it's fair to increase the expectations unrealistically of the people who rely on Holden because I don't want them to go through two grieving processes. A lot has happened since the announcement by Holden two years ago they were closing. A lot of people have moved into new jobs and industries, a lot of businesses have changed their business to more export oriented through things like the Government's Automotive Diversification Program and the Next Generation Manufacturing Industry program so the federal and state governments have not sat on their hands because we wanted to make sure that there is a smooth transition but if it can happen, I'll do everything I can to make it happen but I don't want to increase the expectations to a level that makes people feel unhappy if it doesn't go ahead.

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: Before you leave us, the Defence White Paper, it recommends 12 subs. Is that it, does that then become Federal Government policy, there is no doubt about it, we've got the 12?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Absolutely.

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: Okay.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The policy will be announced at 11 so I'm not going to jump the gun, there's obviously a lot of speculation that there are 12 subs. If there are 12 subs…

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: [Interrupts] But the Government can't ignore that recommendation, it's adopted that's it.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That is the Government's policy, so we- I mean there's been a lot of ringing of hands and I think people creating a political arguments themselves to play themselves into the equation but whatever the Defence White Paper says and I'm not going to jump the gun but there's been a lot of speculation about 12 subs, if it says 12 subs there will be 12 subs built. If there are 12 subs being built, Adelaide will be the big winner because everyone knows we're the only place in Australia that can build submarines, we're the only ones with the cranes and lifts necessary and of course the expertise and that means jobs and growth for us.

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: So why is the Defence Minister Marise Payne continuing to talk about this competitive evaluation process if it's as laid down as air, this is put down the glasses, the horses have crossed the line, and we’ve nailed this.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No well Matt the competitive evaluation process is about who builds the subs and there are three bids- Japan, Germany and France and they have three different bids and each one of those oversees hybrid and domestic and that decision is yet to be made. The decision that'll be announced today is the number of subs and finally we'll put to rest the speculation and trouble making that some people are making about the number of subs and I have to say the South Australian Liberal team will have delivered that.

DAVID BEVAN: Alright but does Weatherill make a good point that all of the Defence spending should be concentrated in Adelaide in terms of shipbuilding whether it's subs or frigates it should all be brought here?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well that's a bit of an ambit claim, but obviously you have to- I mean there are lots of other places in Australia that do defence build industry, I mean lots of other places in Australia, we don't build aircraft for example in South Australia but can I just say that I mean you have to look at the physical limitations of all of the shipbuilding places. Sure Adelaide is the obvious place to build ships but also the air warfare destroyers are not finished at Osborne, there are still two to be delivered which means there's only so much space there, the future frigates have been promised, the Defence White Paper will finalise the number of those today. The submarines- any work that's been done in Australia and I think there'll be a lot of work being done in Australia will be done at Adelaide so you can't actually fit everything in there that some people are claiming must be fitted in there you actually have to look at the realities of the geography.

MATTHEW ABRAHAM: Chris Pyne, look thank you very much.

[ends]