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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-12 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

MITSUBISHI MOTORS

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:38): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Mr Speaker, in the early afternoon of Monday 4 February, my office received a request from Mitsubishi for an urgent meeting. The purpose of the meeting was not disclosed. Later that afternoon I met with officials of Mitsubishi, including the company's Australian CEO, Robert McEniry, and Mitsubishi President, Osamu Masuko, who joined the meeting by phone from Tokyo. The company officials told me that a meeting of the Mitsubishi board to be held the following day in Japan would consider a recommendation to close the company's Tonsley facility and cease manufacturing in Australia.

The company announced its decision to close on 5 February. At the meeting I asked whether, in addition to the generous support already provided to the company by successive state and commonwealth governments, anything else could be done to help Mitsubishi remain as a car manufacturer in Australia. I was told there was not and that any decision by the company would be a purely commercial one based on the viability of its Australian production facility at Tonsley.

The overriding priority of the government will be to support the Mitsubishi workers who have demonstrated such extraordinary loyalty to the company and to help them secure good jobs for the future. That is why we have immediately committed $85 million to support economic and infrastructure development focused on southern Adelaide. This consists of:

a $40 million South Australian innovation investment fund jointly funded by the federal government ($27.5 million), the state government ($7.5 million) and Mitsubishi Motors, which will provide $5 million subject to parent company approval. This fund will be administered jointly by officials of the state and commonwealth governments;

a $10 million labour adjustment package jointly funded by the commonwealth ($7.5 million) and the state ($2.5 million); and

a $35 million fund from the repayment of the state government's loan to Mitsubishi to support job creation and strategic infrastructure in the southern suburbs.

Mitsubishi repaid that $35 million loan with interest yesterday. Furthermore, I ask the house to note that this amount of $35 million will be used in its entirety to support the economic development in the southern suburbs. This is important because in that week the Leader of the Opposition was not only making unfunded promises for seaside suburbs—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —and sporting venues, he also got his sums wrong on the support package to Mitsubishi. If the leader wants to check what I said publicly on the first day, he will realise that it was not I who was misleading the public. The leader said that the government had 'pocketed the $25 million change from Mitsubishi's refunded $35 million loan'. He said the government 'won't commit any more than $10 million'. The Leader of the Opposition is quite simply wrong again.

The Minister for the Southern Suburbs, John Hill, will chair the Southern Suburbs Coordination Group to help direct the $35 million fund, labour adjustment initiatives, infrastructure development, social and community initiatives, and state and local government services to the future development of the Tonsley Park site. I tell you that it will not be a big bus stop. That is one thing we are determined that the Tonsley plant will not be. A Tonsley Park task force will examine and recommend on options to develop the site as an industrial precinct of the future.

Following discussions with her by telephone last week, I met with Marion mayor Felicity-Ann Lewis yesterday to discuss cooperation with the council in securing an industrial future for the Tonsley site and related matters. The overriding priority of this government is the security and welfare of the 930 Mitsubishi workers affected by this decision, together with 200 or so from the components sector who may also be affected.

That is why the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education and I visited the Mitsubishi workers yesterday afternoon, together with John Camillo, State Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. I was very pleased with the fact that local management showed us around and, along with the shop stewards and John Camillo, they introduced us to workers who are losing their jobs. Some told me of their concerns about meeting their mortgage commitments. I remember speaking to one worker who had five children and a mortgage, and he was obviously very concerned about his future. I spoke with other workers who talked about their sadness at the closure of the plant, and they recalled the good times. They also spoke of their respect for a local manager such as Tom Phillips over the years. I spoke with one worker with 41 years' service at Tonsley and to many more with several decades' service. Some were attracted by the idea of other work in areas such as mining, and others wanted to stay manufacturing in the southern suburbs. Some, of course, wanted to retire—people in their early 60s or late 50s—and others said that they wanted to have a breather, to take a trip before deciding what they want to do. I was able to tell the workers that this government has supported them for the past six years and will continue to do so.

I was able to tell them that officials of the Department of Employment, Training and Further Education would be available on site to help match them and their skills to new job opportunities. The workers are already receiving financial advice from state government officials, I am told. I was able to tell them that the state government would help to match job opportunities to their individual needs as much as possible. I was able to tell them that, despite the possible individual hardship that some could face, companies wanting to speak to the workers about taking up new jobs had already approached the government directly.

One such company is BHP Billiton. BHP Billiton and my office have held a series of informal discussions about employment opportunities that exist at BHP Billiton's current underground mining operation at Olympic Dam. BHP Billiton has indicated that it will act swiftly in putting together an information and opportunities roadshow, and take it to the floor of Mitsubishi at Tonsley, with a particular emphasis on recruiting former Mitsubishi workers with engineering and trade backgrounds. Of course, the thing that is coming up time and again is the recognition by other companies of the extraordinary loyalty, as well as the skills, of the Mitsubishi workforce. And, haven't they shown loyalty over the ups and downs through the years but, also, of course, with the constant speculation about Mitsubishi's future.

Olympic Dam has subsequently contacted Mitsubishi to begin that process, and it is likely that many of the large-scale contractors that also supply services to Olympic Dam will be involved in some way. This is not about the future of BHP Billiton's giant expansion project but, rather, about meeting the demand that exists now at Olympic Dam, which, even before the expansion, is Australia's largest underground mine. The company and the state government have also discussed training options for workers who may need to update and refresh their skills to make them job ready for the transition from automotive manufacturing to mining. The company expects to begin canvassing employment opportunities with Mitsubishi workers soon.

Since the closure announcement, BHP Billiton has been in daily contact with the state government through both the Premier's office and that of the Minister for the Southern Suburbs, and the company advises that it will continue to liaise closely with the government over the coming weeks and months as this issue progresses further.

I reiterate that this government's key commitment is to help Mitsubishi workers find new jobs, and I am confident that the workers' skills, ability and loyalty will be attractive to many employers in South Australia.

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