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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-06-19 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

GM HOLDEN

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:06): I rise to speak on behalf of General Motors Holden, on behalf of the workforce and on behalf of the union movement. I rise also to clarify the misinformation, and, can I say, quite untruthful misinformation, being put about by the government in respect of the Liberal's position both state and federal.

I start by reminding the house that the motor cars produced by Holden are first-class motor cars. They are top-10 cars. Both the Cruze and the Commodore are award-winning cars, and they are fantastic products. It was an absolute disgrace that a former deputy premier and treasurer would go on morning radio and decry the products as being below-par and being rubbish products. If that is a signal of what the Labor Party feels about Holden's products, they should be standing in shame. They are excellent motor cars and they are a credit to the company and the workforce.

The second thing I want to point out is that the state Liberals are very firm in their resolve to stand side-by-side with this company, the workforce, and the unions to see a vibrant future for this company. We not only support the company and their products—unlike certain prominent Labor people—but we also support the coinvestment package and we decry the government for not having already signed up to it given that they were approached by the company over a year ago. If they had moved more swiftly, we might not be here today. We will certainly be supporting the coinvestment package and we want Holden to have a vibrant long-term future.

Can I also clarify the utter rubbish put into the house today by the Premier in regard to the federal Coalition's position. I draw the house's attention to a media release from the minister for this area, Sophie Mirabella MP, of 13 June. The Coalition stands strongly in support of Holden. They have provisioned $1 billion into this scheme from 2015 and a further $1 billion from the start of 2016.

The number of car manufacturers has decreased from three to two with the departure of Ford. There is more than enough money there for the coinvestment package with Holden and it is available to be deployed. They make the point that the carbon tax has cost $640 million to the industry, in their view, and they make the point that the Coalition will be working to sort out the mess Labor has created with car industry funding through a Productivity Commission report and review, to make sure that the money that the Coalition does deploy to support the industry, works, because on Labor's watch we have lost Mitsubishi and Ford, and we risk losing Holden. Thank you, Labor, federal and state.

I also remind the house that the Rudd Labor government promised a $1.3 billion green car innovation fund. When Julia Gillard became the Prime Minister she canned and axed the entire program. Only a couple of hundred million had been deployed. Holden decried that decision. The Labor Party was condemned universally for having made it. That cut to funding of $1.2 billion is largely why Holden are in the position they are today—because Labor cut funding.

What did the current Premier have to say about it at the time? Absolutely nothing! It is Labor who have cut funding to the car industry and to Holden. It is simply a lie to say that the Coalition does not support Holden. It is simply a lie, and anyone who says it, whether it is the Premier or a minister, is not telling the truth. The Coalition supports the car industry, and the billion dollars on the table, and the further billion after 2016, are proof of the point.

Can I also reassert to the house the absolute resolve in the state Liberal Party to stand by Holden, its workforce and the unions, and we commend all three. If it was not for the prevarication and delay of Labor, both state and federal, this coinvestment package would have been signed up a year ago. We now have to await the outcome of a federal election. Why? Because Labor, both federal and state, delayed making a decision and put it off. I do not blame Holden now, on the eve of a federal election, to want certainty as to who they will be talking to. Hopefully it will not be Labor, because they have delivered ruin to the automotive industry. On their watch, this state has lost Mitsubishi. On their watch, we have lost Ford. On their watch, we risk losing Holden. They have delivered a wreckage.

Time expired.

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