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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-05-09 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Automotive Transformation

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Automotive Transformation a series of questions about automotive transformation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: On Monday 8 May, the federal government announced it would establish a $100 million manufacturing fund to assist automotive manufacturers and suppliers diversify, grow and develop new products. Out of the fund some $47.5 million will be advanced to top up the manufacturing growth fund, a $155 million program to which the state government and ministers responsible have contributed less than 8 per cent. South Australia is also set to benefit from $10 million for innovation labs, with a further $5 million allocated to enhance manufacturing skills through student research. My questions to the minister are:

1. How can the minister justify his criticism of the federal government program when he has continued to underspend his own automotive transformation program over the last three years?

2. How much of the $21 million allocated for the automotive transformation programs this financial year has been spent?

3. Will the minister increase expenditure for Holden workers and automotive supply chain workers in the next budget, given that there are less than six months until the closure of Holden?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:15): I thank the honourable member for his questions and for his somewhat interest in automotive manufacturing. I do find it extraordinary that he has asked a question about the Liberals' attitude towards supporting automotive manufacturing. Let's go through a few things—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I'll go through a few things. I think it is exceptionally important that we understand a few facts here. Let's be very clear, the reason, at the end of October, that we are going to stop manufacturing cars in South Australia is an ideological bent from the federal Liberal Party. There is no other reason. Just over three years ago, the federal Liberals dared Holden to leave this country. The very next day Holden announced they were leaving. It was an ideology that they don't want to support industry.

There is a lie that is perpetrated by the other side, that somehow we didn't make cars well, and we didn't make cars efficiently. That is just not the case at all. We are, at the moment, one of 13 countries in the world that can make a car from sketchpad to showroom. We have the capabilities to make a car from the very design of the car through to rolling off the assembly line and selling it. At the end of October, thanks to the Hon. David Ridgway's mates in Canberra, there will only be 12 countries.

What makes this even worse, what adds injury to the insult of this, is when the federal Liberals chased auto manufacturing out of this country there was an Automotive Transformation Scheme. That scheme has almost $800 million in it. What could be done is that that money could be spent in South Australia and Victoria, helping industries that will replace auto, helping auto companies diversify. But no, what we see is a dud deal yesterday, the dud deal that the Hon. David Ridgway refers to, of about $100 million, just a fraction of the amount that is being planned to pocket in savings that ought to have gone to support the auto industry being put back into various things.

We don't even know how much of these funds will go to South Australia or Victoria. What we do know is that after Holden announced that they were going to finish manufacturing, after being chased out by the federal Liberal government, the South Australian government announced a $60 million plan, Our Jobs Plan, to support workers, to support auto supply companies and to support industries. We are very proud that we did this. We will work with the federal government. We will help them make the best use of any money that they will put forward, but we repeat our request that they free up the entire amount from the ATS.

In terms of the money we have to support the auto industry, we have Our Automotive Supplier Diversification Program that assists companies, those 74 tier 1 and tier 2 supply chain companies, to diversify. That is on track to be completely expended. As we have talked about in this chamber before, we took advice and we didn't get all of the money out of the door at the very start of the program.

Two years ago, about 80 per cent of those 74 tier 1 and tier 2 supply chain companies reported that they did not have an ability or an ambition to diversify. Now we are seeing, a few months ago as well, over half—and that figure has risen even more—of companies that are already starting to diversify in industries such as medical devices, food manufacturing, food packaging, mining, defence, and a whole range of other companies, and we are proud to support those companies.

We are on track, and I am absolutely certain that by the time we get to October we will have spent all the money—I think it is about $11.65 million—in the Automotive Supplier Diversification Program fund, because we stand by the auto industry. We would have preferred that the federal government continue to support the auto industry. Their ideology meant that they did not want to. They chased the industry out. We will stand by workers, and we will stand by the companies.

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