ABC 891

SUBJECTS:  Holden job cuts

E&OE................................

Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Good morning Matthew, good morning Mark.

Journalist: You’ve both discovered you’re both in Perth, you didn’t know that? You’re not in adjoining rooms, have you tapped on the walls?

Pyne: Well I’m at the airport on my way home for Ian Wilson’s funeral, who was my predecessor in Sturt so I don’t think, I can’t see Mark Butler here, but if he is I will hear him yodelling so I’ll be able to notice him.

Journalist: Ok. Please don’t do that.

Hon Mark Butler MP: I’m here for a bit longer.

Journalist: Ok. Gentlemen, can we start with General Motors Holden. We’ve lost another 500 jobs, 400 jobs in this state, despite an enormous amount of money being sent the way of a large multi-national company. Christopher Pyne, has the Coalition got to the point where it’s not prepared to continue pouring money into GMH?

Pyne: No, that’s not the case. The Coalition strongly supports helping the car industry to be viable. It employs 16,000 South Australians. It’s a very important industry not just from the direct employment through the car industry but also because of its synergies with the defence industry which is also very important for our State…

Journalist: Well what is Sophie Mirabella up too? She is the Oppositions industry spokeswoman and according to the front page of the Fin review she is discussing detailed submissions to cut funding for GMH?

Pyne: No. What we want to do is any funding the tax payer provides to the car industry, we want to make sure we get some very strong guarantees back from them about jobs. I mean what Labor has done is given away $270 million of tax payers money, just in their most recent support to the car industry and got nothing in return. Jay Weatherill gave away $50 million of South Australian taxpayer’s money and got nothing in return.

Journalist: But Mike Devereux from GMH is saying he can’t give commitments on job figures. He can give commitments on sticking around but he can’t give commitments on actual job numbers.

Pyne: Well has he given commitments about sticking around? Because I’m not sure that he has and what we want to see in the Coalition is if taxpayer’s money - which is not the Governments money, it’s not Holden’s money, it’s taxpayer’s money - is given to the car industry to support a very important manufacturing base for our economy then they have to be able to say that this means that they will not be sacking 400 South Australians and 100 Victorians in the second round of sackings. What Labor has done is given away the money and not gotten anything in return.

Journalist: Let’s go to Labor and the Minister for Housing, Member for Port Adelaide, Mark Butler. Mark Butler, do you agree that there need to be a lot firmer strings attached at both Federal Government and State Governments before they hand out subsidies to manufacturers?

Butler: Well the first thing I will say is that was a very brave crab walk by Christopher away from some really concerning stories on the front page of the Fin Review today.

Pyne: Just answer the question.

Butler: That the $1.5 billion that the Liberal party has already indicated they’d will cut from automotive assistance may well blow out to $2 billion. This would create extraordinary…

Pyne: Why don’t you answer the question?

Journalist: Well hang on, he is, I think you has a few discursions, you know a few sort of detours on the way to answering the question…Mark Butler?

Pyne: You always protect him.

Butler: Well coming to the question, just to keep Christopher on the phone. There are very clear commitments that we extracted from General Motors in Detroit and here in Australia in return for the $215 million that we put on the table and they were that we would leverage $1 billion of additional investment from Holden to secure the construction of two new generation vehicles at the Holden plant in Elizabeth up to at least 2022. Now this is extraordinarily important. We know that the current generation of the Commodore – the VS Commodore coming out is due to finish sometime in the middle part of this decade, 15 or 16 I think from memory. So we’ve secured, leveraged $5 pretty much for every dollar that we put on the table from Holden’s and the construction of two new generation vehicles at the Holden’s plant in Elizabeth to at least 2022 and I think that’s a wonderful achievement that Minister Combet was able to..

Pyne: I don’t think it’s a great achievement for the 400 Adelaidians who have lost their jobs and Tom Koutsantonis was saying when this announcement was made that it was linked to jobs he said that there were guarantees that people would not be sacked.  Now that’s turned out to be completely false.

Presenter:  Mark Butler …

Butler:   Well to be clear, the South Australian Government had a completely separate discussion with Holdens and the Premier has talked about that, what I’m saying, it was our approach, it was our approach to maximise the dollars that Holdens or General Motors would put in for the future of the car plant at Elizabeth so for the $215 million we put on the table we were able to leverage a commitment, a clear commitment from General Motors that $1 billion would be invested in the construction of two new generation vehicles taking the security of the plant out to 2022.  Now that was a very clear commitment and I think it was a very sound one.

Presenter:   Okay.  You’re listening to Mark Butler and he’s the Federal Minister for Housing.  He’s the Member for Port Adelaide key player in the Labor Party.  Chris Pyne Liberal MP for Sturt, Shadow Minister for Education.  He’s a very important member of Tony Abbott’s team in terms of strategy and advice and you’re listening to them on 891 ABC Adelaide breakfast with Matthew and David.  Mark Butler is really what you’ve described the only reasonable way to deal with a large company like this and you know, that is you can lock them in to a product but you can’t lock them into jobs numbers?

Butler:   Well at different levels of government may have different approaches to this.  I know that the State Government here in South Australia and also in Victoria focussed on job numbers it’s the …

Presenter:   Yeah, but has that been shown to be pointless Mark Butler in other words as David said, is the better strategy the one that you outlined for the Federal Government is lock them into a long term commitment but you’ve got to leave a company free to, particularly a manufacturing company where demand ebbs and flows for a product to lay people off.  You just have to do that and it’s unrealistic for either the Victorian Government or the State Government in South Australia to try and tie in a company to specific job numbers.  It’s just ridiculous.

Butler:   Well I think our approach is the right approach for a National Government that is putting in money from a national program …

Presenter:   Well maybe state governments should butt out.

Butler: Trying to leverage additional investment particularly for multinational car firms headquartered overseas. Now…

Presenter:   Well Chris Pyne do you concede the real agenda for the Liberal Party here – and it comes through people like Jamie Briggs and if you read the tea leaves and Sophie Mirabella; the Fin Review doesn’t make these things up – that the real agenda you’re working on is that you think it’s a waste of money, you’re throwing good money after bad?

Pyne: Absolutely not. The Coalition has had a long standing commitment to the car industry in Adelaide and in Melbourne. During the Howard Government we saved the car industry and made sure it didn’t leave Australia. I won’t be standing on the tarmac at Adelaide Airport waving goodbye to a car industry and while I’m in the Shadow Cabinet and if we’re fortunate to be elected, in the Cabinet, I will make sure that Australians get, South Australians get the support that we need to make sure the car industry stays in our State.

Presenter:   But by putting up a demand that you know General Motors Holden will not agree to that is a demand for specific job figures, you’re giving yourself an out aren’t you  because if GMH after the election says ‘We will not commit to a specific jobs target’ you’ll say ‘Well, how can we deal with these people? If they leave it’s not my fault. I was prepared to put in all this extra money but they wouldn’t give me a jobs target. It’s unreasonable to do business in any other way. See you later and it’s not my fault’.

Pyne: Well, it’s reasonable for any government whether it’s Labor or Liberal, state or federal to expect to get some guarantees from the car industry in exchange for taxpayers’ money.

Presenter:  Is that what Sophie Mirabella’s telling you?

Pyne: It’s not reasonable for the car industry to expect to simply get those funds, those dollars that the taxpayer hands over and get nothing in return.  I’m so sorry guys but I actually, I’m the last person to board this plane.  If I don’t board the plane I think they are going to fly on and I won’t get to Ian Wilson’s funeral.  So I’m really sorry.

Presenter:   You have to go.

Pyne: I’ve got to go.  They’ve come in three times and knocked on my door.

Presenter:   Okay.  Next thing they’ll be carrying you away.  No that was Mark Butler at the door.  He wants to come in and have a good stoush with you.  Thanks for your time Christopher Pyne and Mark Butler Labor MP for Port Adelaide and Minister for Housing, Mental Health and Ageing, thank you for your time, too.

Butler: Thank you very much.

ENDS.