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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-05-08 Daily Xml
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GENERAL MOTORS HOLDEN

The Hon. L. STEVENS (Little Para) (14:05): Will the Premier inform the house of today's important landmarks in the future economic development of South Australia?

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) (14:05): It is so good to get a Dorothy Dixer from the Leader of the Opposition once again.

An honourable member: Two.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Two in a row. Yesterday, he wanted to underpin the fact that there were no police on the APY lands when he was in government.

Mr PENGILLY: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: relevance to the question?

The SPEAKER: I think that the Premier needs to turn to the substance of the question.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I am delighted at this question. I wish I had more notice! It was my great pleasure this morning to mark the 50th anniversary of a manufacturing icon in South Australia. It is 50 years since the concrete was laid to begin manufacturing at the General Motors Holden Elizabeth plant. Simultaneously with being out there at Holden's, celebrating its 50th birthday, once again employment levels broke new records in South Australia this month, with historic highs achieved in job numbers.

The Leader of the Opposition laughs—87,500 more jobs under this government compared to when he was in cabinet. Again, that is the difference. We broke all the records for jobs growth today. Despite the closure of Mitsubishi, the predictions were that those figures would show up today, and maybe they did. However, we have record numbers of jobs in the state's history, record jobs growth in the state's history, and manufacturing is an important part of that. So, what was then a dairy farm is today a world-class manufacturing facility.

Holden Elizabeth employs 3,400 people and is gearing up for its exports of the SS Commodore-based Pontiac G8. Holden's Elizabeth plant accounted for around 35 per cent of all the vehicles manufactured in Australia last year. Last year, more than 36,000 of the vehicles produced at Holden Elizabeth—about one-third of production—were exported to destinations as diverse as Brazil, the Middle East, South Africa, the UK, the US and New Zealand.

By the end of this year—and this is the important announcement of today, a day when we got record jobs figures in this state's history—I am delighted to be able to announce to the house that it is expected that 50 per cent of all cars built at Elizabeth will be for the export market, and that is very good news. If our car industry is to be competitive, we have to be competitive internationally, not just in the domestic market.

That attests to the company's dedication, to its highly skilled workforce and the commitment to innovation and excellence shown by its management team. The state government has committed $3.4 million to the company's Safety Enhancement Project to help identify fuel and safety improvements for its Australian-manufactured vehicles.

I have seen many changes at Holden since I first visited the plant with Don Dunstan in the 1970s, and then with other premiers and, of course, as the minister for employment, as the leader of the opposition and, of course, as deputy leader of the opposition, working for several days at the plant in 1994. If anyone has a 1994 model Commodore and they see anything uneven about its bumper bar, they can complain to me, because I was in the bumper bar division of the plant when I was working there.

The company's performance as an innovator and as an exporter, like that of the Australian automotive industry as a whole, requires public support. That is why, in the national review of the Australian automotive industry currently underway under the leadership of Steve Bracks, South Australia will, amongst other things, urge that tariffs remain at 10 per cent until 2015. So, when making that announcement, ahead of our submission to the review, we believe there should not be a drop in tariffs; in fact, tariffs should remain at 10 per cent until 2015. I cannot see the point of some kind of one-way free trade where other countries maintain their tariffs and subsidies but we do not. I congratulate the workers and management of Holden, Elizabeth. It was great to be there with my friends from the AMWU this morning.

Today is significant for yet another reason. Today's Australian Bureau of Statistics figures on the labour market show South Australia is outperforming the national economy. Here is some news the Leader of the Opposition will not like! Over the year to April our trend total job growth in South Australia was 3.2 per cent versus 2.8 per cent for Australia. There is now a record 777,900 South Australians in work, and there is now a new record of 536,800 of them in full-time jobs. Over the past year 83 per cent of all the jobs created have been full-time jobs. Since March 2002—a day that will loom in the opposition's memory—an additional 87,500 jobs have been created. So 87,500 jobs have been created since Labor was elected in this state, and I am looking forward to the day we celebrate the 100,000 mark.

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