Tony Abbott should ‘step up’ and fund Holden, say Labor and unions
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Version 0 of 1. The federal opposition and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have called for the prime minister to “step up” and announce funding for Holden before the release of a Productivity Commission report after senior government ministers said the car manufacturer was going to pull out of Australia in 2016. Unnamed senior government ministers told ABC’s Lateline on Thursday that Holden will cease operating in Australia after 65 years of production. A Productivity Commission report into the future of the automotive industry is underway, with preliminary findings expected on 20 December and the final report on 31 March, and a decision on government funding was expected to influence Holden’s decision to stay. Citing “several senior government figures”, ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann said Holden intends to quit Australia “as early as 2016”, regardless of the report, if the government does not make a decision before Christmas. The closure would take with it about 1,700 jobs in South Australia and up to 50,000 in knock-on effects around the country. Industry minister Ian Macfarlane denied any such decision had been made, a statement backed up by the opposition’s industry spokesman, Kim Carr. ACTU national secretary Dave Oliver told Guardian Australia the council is “extremely disappointed that we’ve now got government ministers backgrounding journalists on the demise of Holden when no such decision has been made”. “This is now creating a lot of uncertainty across the industry and more importantly a lot of uncertainty for the Holden workers who are waking up to the news this morning that they may have lost their jobs, when that’s not the case,” said Oliver. He said the prime minister now had an opportunity to “put money where his mouth is” and announce co-investment to secure Holden and the auto industry. “The prime minister has a choice. He can simply stand by on the sidelines and wait for a Productivity Commission inquiry that could turn into a Productivity Commission inquest, or come out now before Christmas [and] make the announcement that he’s prepared to make the funding that will secure the tens of thousands of jobs in Holden and the associated supply industry,” said Oliver. Carr told reporters in Canberra on Friday morning that the prime minister has “real responsibilities” to intervene personally. He said that the government has done “all they can to avoid making a decision” on funding Holden, and called for it to deliver certainty to the industry. “There’s been no formal decision made at this point, but the whole issue is on a knife edge,” said Carr. Carr said he was in no doubt that if Labor had won the election, contracts would have been signed by now. He said a deal had been done under Labor with the company but it wasn’t signed off because Holden wanted to hold off until after the election. “The government has known for a long time what the timetable is,” he said. In June, Fairfax reported General Motors Holden director of government affairs Matt Hobbs saying that without further financial assistance beyond 2020 from the government, GMH would pull out. In a submission to the Productivity Commission, Holden said a globally competitive, long-term policy was needed to keep Australian automotive manufacturing alive. "Without public assistance, Holden's local manufacturing cannot compete globally," the submission said. South Australian senator Nick Xenophon told ABC on Friday morning that if Holden quit “the supply chain would collapse”. “Other countries give a lot more assistance per capita to the automotive industry because they see the advantage in having a viable automotive industry,” he said. “$2bn is a lot of money over 10 years but what is the cost of welfare payments that the government would have to dish out?” he said, referencing the potential 50,000 job losses. The prime minister’s office and General Motors were contacted for comment. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |