Automotive Industry

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:56): A supplementary, sir. Given that the Premier has outlined to the house his commitment to the federal plan, is he, in fact, abandoning the $393 million jobs plan that he took to the electorate only a few weeks ago?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:56): No and, in fact, our jobs plan is the only comprehensive plan which has been put on the table to respond to the challenge associated with the closure of Holden's and now Toyota, and we will continue to pursue that plan. Indeed, that will be our blueprint for what we do with the money, and if you see what the commonwealth has announced today, or what we understand they have announced—it was announced while I was in here without reference to us, which seems to be a little pattern that has emerged, but nevertheless we will not be churlish about that—it seemed to pick up on substantial elements of the job plan that we submitted to the inquiry process that is undertaken by the commonwealth, chaired by Mr Ian Macfarlane.

There are all sorts of things to criticise about the commonwealth's response, but I think it is appropriate at this time for us to get on with doing the positive things that we can. We are not going to abandon our claims. We think in the fullness of time it will become obvious to the commonwealth that what they are offering is inadequate because the scale of the challenge is, indeed, dramatic. In fact, I understand that, while some of our experts had estimated that something in the order of 25 per cent of the component manufacturers may be able to survive the process of the closure of the car industry, Holden's own estimate is more like 5 per cent. Some of the upper bound estimates of the number of jobs at stake—13,000—may, sadly, come to pass, so that is a dramatic challenge for us, but we will begin the task. We are not abandoning our jobs plan. It is our blueprint for the way in which we will approach the task of transforming the South Australian economy.