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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-27 Daily Xml
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Question Time

GM HOLDEN

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): My question is to the Premier. Now that the government funding package has been announced for Holden, how many jobs will be lost and when will these jobs go? At a briefing last night, Holden would not tell the opposition how many jobs would be lost under this funding arrangement, but stated that they have told the Premier how many jobs will go. So, tell the public, Premier, they deserve to know.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There was some supposition in that question, but I will ask the Premier to answer the question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:21): I had the pleasure, actually, of attending the parliament in Canberra and I can certainly tell you that question would have been dispensed to the boundary by the current Speaker of the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, I must say your leniency is one that is welcome and I am more than happy to answer the question, but it certainly was disorderly. The proposition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will be heard in silence. You have asked the question.

Mr Williams: He hasn't got to the subject yet.

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The purpose of the investment package is to grow the number of jobs. That's the fundamental premise that the investment package with Holden's is based on.

Mr Williams: So there will be more jobs?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's precisely what we are seeking to do here. We are seeking to grow Holden's here in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: At the very least maintain its operations, but hopefully grow it and, indeed, all of the component manufacturers. Can I say this: I can guarantee you that every single last one of those jobs would have disappeared without this investment package. That has—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —been confirmed by Holden's, confirmed by the Prime Minister and confirmed by the federal minister for manufacturing—without contradiction—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —from Holden's. I had proposed that we debate the Holden's motion today and I am very pleased to see that we will be debating it I think for two days. So, I am more than happy to set out the approach that we have taken in relation to this matter. On 21 March we received confirmation of Holden's accepting our proposition in relation to investment in the future of Holden's. What I did immediately after we had made the public announcements was to ensure that the opposition received a briefing, which they received—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I arranged for Holden's to give a briefing to those opposite yesterday evening so that they would have the benefit of all of the relevant information, answering all of the questions—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —that they have.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for MacKillop, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I am not going to put in the public sphere any material that Holden's has not been prepared to put in the public sphere, for this very important reason: we were investing in the future of Holden's to sustain its future. We are not going to undermine its competitive position with those that would seek to have this information by putting any information in the public sphere that they are not prepared to put in the public sphere.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: But I can tell you these are the commitments we have. We have, of course, the commitment to not close Holden's, an absolutely crucial commitment. That is what was at stake here. The second commitment we have is to invest over $1 billion here in South Australia—$1 billion of investment here in South Australia to ensure that we have a future for our car industry for the purposes of two new generation cars. That is the commitment we have. Thirdly, we have a commitment to maintain operations here in South Australia until 2022 at Elizabeth. We also have the commitment of Holden's to participate—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order. This is all very interesting, but the question was: will the Premier tell us how many jobs he was told by Holden's would be lost as a result of this package?

The SPEAKER: Thank you. The Premier can answer the question as he chooses, and I find it quite fitting the answer that he is giving.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The commitment that Holden's has given and the point they have made to us is that they cannot forecast the future growth or otherwise of their operations here in Australia. They have not even designed the two new models, they have certainly not invested—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —in the new models here in South Australia yet. That is something that is going to occur in the latter part of this decade. We have a commitment to 2022. That is the commitment we have from Holden's, and we are not prepared to put into the marketplace information that would assist the competitors of Holden's to damage Holden's competitive position.

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