Tony Abbott to reveal assistance package for Holden workers
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Version 0 of 1. The prime minister, Tony Abbott, will reveal details of an assistance package for Holden workers next week, which is likely to include measures to retrain South Australian and Victorian workers affected by the carmaker’s decision to cease manufacturing operations in Australia by 2017. Abbott flagged the announcement after hosting his first Council of Australian Governments meeting since he became prime minister. It came as Victoria’s Liberal premier, Denis Napthine, said he was ready to mount an argument for more federal funding to keep Toyota building cars in Australia. Napthine said all players must “give every opportunity” to ensure the carmaker’s local operations stay in place, while calling on his state and territory counterparts to adopt a “buy local” policy for their vehicles. Topics on the agenda at Friday’s meeting at Parliament House in Canberra included federalism, Indigenous affairs, the national disability insurance scheme and arrangements for paid parental leave, but Holden’s decision this week to end its Australian car making operations meant the future of manufacturing and automotive assistance was a crucial discussion point. Toyota is the only other remaining carmaker in Australia and has warned that it is reconsidering its viability in the wake of Holden’s decision. After his meeting with state and territory leaders, Abbott said they agreed it was important to respond swiftly and ensure specific initiatives were put in place to address the difficulties Adelaide and parts of Victoria would face. He said it was also important to improve efficiency in the manufacturing sector, including by reducing taxes and regulations and increasing productivity. The prime minister anticipated he would have “something to say early next week that will involve numbers”. He said the announcement would help restore confidence in the areas most affected by the impending departure of Holden and Ford, adding the government aimed to help the workers move from one good job to another good job. Napthine said the meeting recognised that “that the decision earlier this year by Ford and more recently by General Motors Holden will have a significant effect on jobs in the automotive industry and across the supply chain”. “There was a recognition from the prime minister for the need for urgent action, from the Commonwealth working with Victoria and South Australia in terms of a structural adjustment package and assistance package focused at four levels,” Napthine said. This would include helping affected workers access training and job opportunities and encouraging job growth in Victoria, South Australia and the rest of the nation. Earlier, Queensland’s Liberal National premier, Campbell Newman, said he felt for the Holden workers and would support a package to help them, but he was not keen on extra industry assistance. “Frankly I don’t believe we can continue to prop up an industry that just isn’t competitive on a global stage.” The South Australian Labor premier, Jay Weatherill, whose state will be hit hard by the loss of the car manufacturing, expected a strong response to the problems, saying the urgency and magnitude of the task demanded a federal solution. It was a national issue about Australia’s industrial capability, he said on his way into the Coag meeting. Napthine said his main issue at the meeting would be the Holden decision to withdraw. The premier would be “fighting hard” for an assistance package for affected workers and their families, including retraining, consolidating and certifying their skills, and a “substantial transformation package” to grow new job opportunities in Victoria. Napthine said his state government would “leave no stone unturned” in fighting to retain Toyota and the associated supply chain. Napthine, who said on Thursday he was in the early stages of discussions with Toyota about its “ambitions to build a new model Camry”, told reporters on Friday that the carmaker had not yet made a request for extra funding from his government. “We’re having further discussions next week and we’re happy to work with Toyota, and certainly if Toyota are looking for co-investment into their future the Victorian government stands ready to listen to those arguments, look at that business case and we would certainly be making the case very strongly for potential federal partnership in that coinvestment,” Napthine said. “The lesson I think for everyone involved – the unions, management, the supply chain, and state and federal government – [is that] we all need to look at this in a new light and we as a state government are prepared to be involved in coinvestment if Toyota request it and if it’s based on a sound sustainable long-term business plan.” Abbott said everyone wanted Toyota to continue and expand in Australia. Napthine said one of the actions state and territory governments could take to support the industry was to buy Australian-made vehicles. “I think it’s imperative that states and state government agencies support Australia, support Australian jobs, and I think other states and territories ought to give serious consideration to adopting the policy that we in Victoria have adopted, which is that every vehicle our states and state government agencies purchase must be made in Australia unless it is a fit-for-purpose vehicle that cannot be made within our country,” Napthine said. The Coag meeting was closed to the media but Abbott allowed them in to see his opening remarks to his state and territory counterparts. The prime minister said he saw it as “a meeting of equals” rather than an opportunity for the commonwealth to lecture the states or for the states to fight with the federal government. “I certainly don’t want us to be Liberal versus Labor because, let’s face it, all of us have our own issues to wrestle with,” Abbott said. “As far as is humanly possible I want all of us to get on with the issues of government in our own jurisdictions but where there is overlap, where there is the necessity of co-operation, it should be constructive, it should be collegial and it should be motivated by a concern for the overall best interests of our states and our country.” Abbott said he had gone from being a “philosophical federalist” in his early career to a “pragmatic nationalist” when he was a Howard government minister to a “pragmatic federalist” now. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |