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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-28 Daily Xml
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GM HOLDEN

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade. Can the minister inform the house about how thousands of South Australians have benefited from the co-investment package with General Motors Holden announced earlier this year and how government policies and comments play an important role in supporting this vital sector?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:30): I will try to bring calm and peace to the house.

The SPEAKER: That's good to hear, minister.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This state government is committed to our automotive sector and ensuring the continued operations of General Motors Holden at Elizabeth. This government is proud of what General Motors Holden is doing. This government is proud of the estimated $1.5 billion Holden contributes to our gross state product. This government is proud of the 16,000 jobs it creates in South Australia.

This government understands the importance of Holden to the whole automotive industry and how its closure would affect suppliers and, most importantly, workers across the state. That is why the South Australian government, together with the federal government and the Victorian government, worked cooperatively with General Motors Holden to unlock a $1.2 billion capital investment for engineering and manufacturing of two next-generation vehicles at Elizabeth in South Australia.

For our $50 million investment, this state government leveraged over $1 billion into our automotive industry. This is over $1 billion of foreign investment from Detroit in the United States. This investment will bring two new generation global architectures into production at Elizabeth and allow Holden to maintain its capacity to design and engineer vehicles in Australia until at least 2022. This is a decade of security for workers in the automotive sector in this state. Members opposite and their federal colleagues are desperate to talk down the future of Holden in South Australia.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order!

The SPEAKER: Order! You are very quick at jumping to points of order, member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: The minister imputes improper motives on the opposition. He should be like Nectarios of Aegina and have love for our neighbours and not be a zealot.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Morialta.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Madam Speaker, I carry St George in my pocket, the spear carrier.

The SPEAKER: Minister, back to the question, please.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Those opposite are yet to tell us their plans for the automotive industry and manufacturing policies. I was shocked by the comments of the federal shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, who said that 'people don't want to buy Australian-made cars...the cars are not meeting their demands as consumers'.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order!

The SPEAKER: Order! What is your point of order?

Mr GARDNER: Under 98, it is disorderly to be irrelevant to the question, when the minister for training does not even want to drive a South Australian-made ministerial car.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Sit down.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There was no point of order. Minister.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: However, Joe Hockey is wrong. The Commodore and the Cruze are stalwarts in the top 10 most popular Australian cars. What the Coalition is trying to say is that they do not like to drive Australian-made cars. They want to drive around in BMWs while the rest of us drive around in Great Walls or Hyundais.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That is why they bash our automotive industry. That is why the Coalition has not committed to the industry beyond 2015. The simple fact is that our federal Coalition does not want to see submarines built in Adelaide and they sure as hell do not want to see Holden survive in Adelaide.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister is putting words in other people's mouths, putting policies that are not on the public record and the minister is now just making it up.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: After the comments of the federal shadow treasurer there was silence from members opposite—absolute silence: no policies to support the automotive sector, no policies to support wider manufacturing. Perhaps if General Motors made yachts, if they manufactured yachts they would take an interest. The truth is that they have no automotive policy and they do not support General Motors.

Mr MARSHALL: Relevance, 98.

The SPEAKER: I do not think your point of order is probably relevance but I refer the minister back to the question. Have you answered the question?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Deputy leader, order, and members on my right, stop shouting across back to him.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: When a senior member of the Coalition attacks our automotive industry—we are the heart and soul of manufacturing in this country for automotive and when Joe Hockey—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —says, 'People don't want to buy Australian cars'—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you, minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —you should stand up for South Australia.

The SPEAKER: Minister, sit down. Order! There's a point of order.

Mr PISONI: We have had more than 4½ minutes.

The SPEAKER: No, he has 41 seconds left.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Point of order, Madam Speaker. Supplementary: does the minister agree with federal Labor minister Tony Burke's comments that Holden is too slow to move to fuel-efficient cars?

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport, I do not know if that was a point of order or a supplementary question. It sounded very much like a supplementary question so there was no point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sophie Mirabella and the shadow federal treasurer will not commit to our automotive sector post 2015. They will not commit. We expect all members of this house to stand up for manufacturing in South Australia and to stand up for South Australian manufacturers. The truth is this: if you want to save Holden you vote Labor.

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