Automotive Transformation

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:37): My question is to the Minister for Automotive Transformation. How is the government's investment in the automotive supply chain companies creating jobs and opportunities for the future?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for his question and his very strong advocacy for those working in our industries in South Australia over many years. As we have already heard today, the decision by Liberals right across Australia to abandon our automotive industry is perhaps the most blatant ideological attack that they have made in recent years. As a direct result of their actions and their determination to shut down an industry, it is an unfortunate fact that many hardworking South Australians who have worked or are currently working in the automotive sector, through no fault of their own, are going to be facing tough times.

We hear today criticism of the government for supplying programs and providing programs for workers in this industry in southern Adelaide. We hear this criticism after having a whole summer of thinking up questions, and the sum total of their ambition is to ask about dates for service patches on computers in an office. We will do everything as a Labor government as part of the Labor movement to support workers through this process ensuring that we can provide the sort of programs and the sort of support that workers need.

We are doing everything we can to protect jobs in the industries where they have worked and to help create new jobs for automotive workers, despite the ideological attack and the decision to cut funding for the auto industry. We are currently one of only 13 countries on the planet that can make a car from design to rolling off on the showroom floor. As a direct result of the ideology of the Liberal Party that is going to stop—that is going to stop here in South Australia in October. The federal Liberal Party faced a choice: in federal parliament they dared Holden to leave and the next day they left. I have met no-one—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! No debate; just answer the question.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: That is what we are doing: supporting, where we can, the workers, but importantly the supply chain. That is what we are doing with an alliance of businesses under a new name of Precision Buses, which is diversifying from the Holden supply chain into the manufacture of new environmentally-friendly buses.

Precision Components, which I have been fortunate to visit a number of times, and ZF Lemforder in the northern suburbs, which I have also visited, have for many years played a key role in providing components to Holden, and have found that their expertise in chassis technology has provided them an opportunity to branch out into other areas of vehicle manufacturing, enabling jobs to be protected and created that otherwise would have been lost when Holden shuts its doors in October this year.

The government backed this alliance with a grant of $2 million to support the construction and trial of two low-emission diesel buses and two electric-powered buses. It was great, on Friday last week, to be joined by the three mayors of the area—Mayor Gary Johanson of Port Adelaide Enfield, Glen Docherty of Playford and Gillian Aldridge at Salisbury—at ZF Lemforder to see the first of those buses ready to roll out on to the Adelaide metro network.

This investment is already paying dividends, with not only these buses rolling off but also new jobs created with new orders. Since receiving the $2 million grant to jumpstart the venture, the project has gone from strength to strength: first, with the news that this consortium had secured a contract to build a dozen buses for Queensland, which was great news and would support 29 workers for that program.

I was very pleased to hear on, I think, Boxing Day that the contract was signed to take that to 50 buses: 50 buses are being built in South Australia for interstate markets. Precision Buses, the new consortium that involves Precision Components and ZF, has already dealt with 20 local suppliers, meaning that not only is the venture delivering results on that site but also is helping other businesses involved in the supply chain.

This is not only great for the companies and workers involved but it is also proof that Australians can and will continue to manufacture high quality products. We know we are undergoing significant economic transformation in this state, and industries such as low-emission diesel buses and electric buses are a sign of where new jobs can be created. It is pleasing to see what we are doing now, and I look forward to the future of the Precision Buses consortium, which already has a contract for 50 new buses, 29 jobs already (and it should be 50 jobs with this new contract), to see where that goes, and I would be happy to keep the chamber informed of how this project unfolds.