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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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CARBON TAX

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): My question is to the Premier. As Holden has today flagged the need to make 'significant annual cost savings', will the Premier now lobby the Primer Minister to abolish the carbon tax, which costs the car industry over $40 million each and every year?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:34): Can I say in response to that question, of all of the discussions we have had with Holden, not once have they raised the carbon tax as an issue of concern about which they would seek some relief from either the commonwealth or the state government. Indeed, I think what is beginning to emerge internationally is a consensus that all countries will be moving to put a price on carbon.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Will the Premier be seated? I call the leader to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: He only needs to look as far as China or as far as California to realise that this is a movement spreading across Europe and the rest of the world. I know those opposite have their vision firmly fixed on the rear-vision mirror. We are looking forward to a carbon constrained future, and I think it has been a sensible decision to grapple with the element of a carbon constrained future by putting a price on carbon. It will have to happen. Everybody accepts that the first movers will be best placed to take advantage of an economy restructured in that fashion. So, it is a fact of life, and companies like Holden appreciate that and they do not seek to advance propositions about that. It is only the Liberal Party that has advanced those propositions for its own spurious political purposes.

We know that there is one party in this chamber that does not have a policy in relation to car manufacturing. They are going to outsource that, along with three other committees too, after the election. We have a policy on car manufacturing, that is, that we want to keep it. That involves investing in it, and that involves imagining a future for Holden. That is why we entered into the arrangements we did with Holden, and we take that view because it is one of the few complete supply chains that we have in manufacturing in this nation.

It is absolutely crucial for us to make the transition from our manufacturing sector as it is today to an advanced manufacturing sector. All of the expert advice is that we cannot allow this sector to fail before we have the plans to transition it to the next phase of its development. It will be a different car industry in the future, but it will require us to take those steady steps between now and 2022 to ensure that those workers and their jobs are secure, that they have the skills that will allow them to make the transition into a growing economy—an advanced manufacturing economy—that we believe is the future for this state.

The SPEAKER: Arising out of that last answer, I warn the members for Heysen and Morialta for the first time for repeatedly interjecting. I call the member for Kavel to order for his cackling, and I also call the Minister for Transport Services to order for her interjection. The member for Giles.

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