GM HOLDEN

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (15:26): I rise today to commend the very difficult decision made by workers at Holden last month. Holden workers voted in favour of a variation to their enterprise bargaining agreement, agreeing to changes in shift and working hours, as well as forgoing a 3 per cent pay rise. These are the same workers who, just a few years earlier, in a groundbreaking agreement between the company, the workers and their unions, agreed to shorter working weeks and decreased pay to help prevent redundancies.

In June, Holden publicly announced that, due to 'unprecedented economic challenges', it was seeking support from workers to help achieve significant annual cost savings. After a long eight weeks of negotiations, as well as intense media scrutiny, the workers agreed to these changes. They have done their bit to secure the future of vehicle manufacturing in South Australia and they are owed our thanks for that decision.

There is no doubt that the Australian vehicle industry is under enormous pressure. Of the nations which have the capacity to design and build automobiles, every single one provides government support. Australia has one of the lowest per-capital government co-investment models of any vehicle-building nations. Our vehicle market is one of the most competitive and open in the world. So, there is no doubt that the decision by the new Abbott Liberal government to rip out $500 million of committed funding from the Automotive Transformation Scheme sent a shiver up the spine of automobile manufacturers in Australia.

Holden could not have been clearer about the role that withdrawal of this government support would play in determining its future. General Manager Mike Devereux said:

Holden has to be globally competitive and so does the country's industry policy. As a local manufacturer, Holden is asking for a fair go. Australia must be able to compete fairly on the world stage.

We need clear, consistent and globally competitive government policy to help secure a long-term future for automotive manufacturing.

In spite of this, Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott continued to knock industry support, saying, 'It is possible to do sophisticated motor manufacturing in this country without a government handout.'

This shows just how completely naive this new government is to the plight of Australia's vehicle industry. They seem to have a strange aversion to transport of any kind, with their buying up the boats, cutbacks on cars, and now they have ripped out spending on train infrastructure. What's next? It is also important to acknowledge the role played by their unions and the major union at Holden in securing this agreement, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and its state secretary, Mr John Camillo.

One of the great unfounded myths peddled by conservatives is that unions are detrimental to job security and overall prosperity. John Camillo's negotiations at Holden show that this is complete and total nonsense. The primary concern of any union I have known is to ensure the job security of its members. Improvements in wages and conditions are negotiated and are often directly related to the profitability and stability of the enterprise at any given time. For without employers, there are no employees, and without employees, there are no unions. This is self-evident.

The Abbott government needs to understand and commend the workers and their unions for the difficult decisions they have made in the interests of keeping the vehicle industry in Australia alive. They have preserved employment, not only for themselves but for the tens of thousands of others indirectly employed in the vehicle sector and wider community. It would be an act of economic treachery if the federal government turned its back on these workers after the unselfish sacrifices they have made.

Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott needs to act now to secure the 16,000 jobs in South Australia, the $1.5 billion in economic activity and the estimated $83 million in state taxation revenue that is generated by Holden. Let's hope that the efforts of Holden workers are not in vain.