PM: I'm here at the Ford factory at Broadmeadows and I'm joined by the Minister for Manufacturing, Kim Carr, and by our local member, Maria Vamvakinou, and I've been very pleased to be able to walk though today and to talk to some of the hard-working people here at Ford.
The workers you can see behind me are just some ofthe 46,000 Australians who work in the car industry, and beyond those directly employed there are another 230,000 Australians whose jobs depend on there being a car industry in this country. We are proudly one of 13 countries around the world - only 13 - that can say that they have a car industry which does everything from design through to the car rolling off the production line. That's a very special thing to be able to say.
And the skills and capabilities that come out of manufacturing automobiles then flow through to the rest of manufacturing, so a vibrant car industry is so important to the future of manufacturing generally.
Because of the importance of the car industry, during the global financial crisis we worked hard to make sure that we would still have a car industry in this country and we do. Now, we are in a time of economic transformation and change in Australia, we are going through a spectacular resources boom. That brings great benefits, but it also means our Australian dollar is very high and a high Australian dollar can put pressure on other industries, including manufacturing.
I'm very determined as Prime Minister, as we go through this period of economic change, that we emerge with a diversified economy with many sources of strength, including manufacturing. I don't want to see the resources boom hollow out other parts of the Australian economy, which is why we are working with the car industry to make sure we hold these jobs and these skills and capabilities in Australia.
As a result of recent discussions, we have entered an agreement with Ford which will see this manufacturing which happens here keep happening through to 2016. That's important news for the workers here.
And we continue to have discussions with Ford about the future of car manufacturing by Ford in Australia, and at the same time we are continuing to work with the rest of the car industry.
As a result of us making $34 million available to join with Ford in new investment to keep car manufacturing here, we'll actually see the number of jobs grow. There will be an additional 300 jobs as a result.
So, that's good news for people who are going to get that work, it's good news for people who rely on car manufacturing for their livelihoods, and it's good news for Australian manufacturing overall.
Premier Baillieu, a Liberal Premier, has joined with us in these endeavours and I thank him for that. In contrast, Tony Abbott is saying no to the jobs of these Australian workers - simply saying no to them having their jobs. Now, that is an irresponsible approach.
Unfortunately the irresponsibility doesn't end there. Mr Abbott's Finance Spokesperson, Mr Robb, has also been engaging in deeply irresponsible conduct.
We are at a time in the global economy where there is volatility out of the Eurozone. That means that markets are skittish. That means it's an incredibly dangerous time for people to be spruiking nonsense about the Australian economy, and that's what Mr Robb has been doing - talking our economy down.
The plain facts are these: Australia has succeeded in getting the coveted AAA rating from all three major ratings agencies - the first time in Australia's history we're ever had that, the AAA rating from all three ratings agencies, and we've succeeded in getting it now.
Under the former Howard Government we never achieved that benchmark. In 2007, there were 16 economies with a AAA rating from all three ratings agencies - and we weren't one of them. Now there are 12 economies with that coveted status, and we are one of them.
So, for Mr Robb to wander around trying to fool people and say the Australian economy is in the same state as some the European economies is simply wrong, and it's grossly irresponsible at a time where we are seeing market volatility and markets are understandably skittish about circumstances in Europe.
The Australian economy is in a very difference place: we have economic growth, we have low unemployment, we have low debt, and we are working hard to make sure we've got jobs today as we build our future economy so we've got jobs tomorrow.
I'll turn to the Minister for Manufacturing, Kim Carr, for some comments.
MINISTER CARR: Thank you, Prime Minister.
Today's visit allows us the opportunity to talk directly with workers here at Broadmeadows about their future, and about the Government's commitment to ensure that they have a prosperous future. We are talking to people right across the industry in this country because we value highly the importance of the automotive industry - not just because the capacity to make a motor car, but because of its importance to manufacturing generally.
A million Australians are employed in manufacturing and the foundation stone of manufacturing is the automotive industry. We have the capacity in this country to be able to be part of a great global industry and to remain part of it, but it requires investment, new investment. It needs constant attention. It's not a set-and-forget policy area. It's an area which we must work closely with everyone involved to maintain our international competitiveness.
And that's why I'm calling upon the Liberal Party to fulfil its obligations to blue-collar workers, to working people of this country, and actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them in what has been the most difficult year, probably, since 1957.
This is a direct result of the changes that are occurring in the Australian economy, the direct result of a two-speed economy, and we've got an obligation as governments and as oppositions to work with the industries to ensure that we have a sustainable future in manufacturing.
Now, Mr Abbott has spent most of last year trawling his coat across this country, factory after factory, seeking to claim that he is sympathetic to the struggles of working people. Well, now here's his chance - as I understand it a meeting tomorrow, a meeting of the Shadow Cabinet tomorrow, to demonstrate his commitment, to put his money where his mouth is and to stand up to the theorists that think that we can get on in this world by pretending the world is some sort of giant university seminar.
Well, of course the real world of economics is very different. We have to work with international companies to secure investment, to secure the future for jobs in this country. And Mr Abbott has a direct responsibility, a direct responsibility to you, all of the people who are here today, to face up to his obligations - not just talking the talk, but actually acting, and we need to have a bipartisan approach in this country to the future of investment, because the international community, the international investment community, is looking to us, who want to know whether or not we are genuinely committed to manufacturing into the future.
Well I can assure you this: the Australian Government is. What about the Opposition? Are they genuinely committed, or are the just running for political gamesmanship that we've seen so often in this country? What we need is the Parliament to stand together, stand together for the working people of this country and secure the jobs for the future.
Now the Liberals have a policy at the moment of reducing assistance - reducing assistance. They have been saying to us on one hand they support the industry, yet on the other hand they say they want to take money out of the industry. You can't do both and Mr Abbott has to come clean - he said last August that they were in the business of reviewing their policy. Well, it's time to release the report, release the report that the Shadow Cabinet is looking at, so we can see whether or not they're fair dinkum.
I know that Mr Loughnane, the Liberal Party national director, and others within the senior ranks of the Liberal Party have been promising the motor companies that they're going to change their policy. They've been promising that for some time.
Well, it's time to deliver. It's time for them to stand with this Government, join with this Government and defend manufacturing jobs in Australia, defend the automotive industry and ensure that we remain, as a country, committed to high-technology, high-wage, high-skilled jobs, right into the 21st century.
Thank you.
PM: And I'll call on Maria Vamvakinou, who's the local member here. As we've moved around and talked to people, quite a few people live nearby where they work, so I'll get Maria to say a few words.
VAMVAKINOU: Thank you, Prime Minister.
As the Prime Minister said, a lot of the people that work here and are here today in fact are my constituents. I've been associated with Ford since my becoming the Member for Calwell about a decade ago. However, the history of Ford as an employer in Broadmeadows spans well in excess of 50 years.
This is an important provider for a very important manufacturing of cars in Australia. Last year Tony Abbott stood up in the Parliament and challenged me as the Member for Calwell to stand up for my constituents, to stand up for manufacturing in my electorate. Well, I am standing up for my constituents, the Government is standing up for my constituents, the Government is standing up for the future of manufacturing in Australia.
My call now is to return the compliment to Tony Abbott and to challenge him to stand up for the future of manufacturing in Australia and to stand up for the jobs in my electorate. I just want to tell Mr Abbott and those who feel that this is bad money being spent, that people in this electorate and people right across Australia understand the importance of Australia being a manufacturing nation, they understand the importance of jobs, they want their Government to invest in this country's manufacturing capacity and in this country's future.
This is the message I convey to the Opposition Leader on behalf of my constituents and on behalf of the many people who have made their lives in Australia in post-war migration, who came here and who now, as late as last night, 78-year-,old Sophia said to me: this is one of the best things that an Australian government can do to preserve Australian manufacturing.
Thank you.
PM: Thanks Maria, thank you.
Thank you, we're happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Ms Gillard, what is the (inaudible) at what point does the car industry have to stand on its own two feet?
PM: We are optimistic about the future of manufacturing. That does mean we've got to make the right decisions now, and the right decisions to support the industry during this phase of economic change in our country, where we've got the resources boom, we've got a high Aussie dollar, we've got competition for capital and for labour, and so we will be supporting Australian jobs during this period because I want us to come through this period of economic change with a diversified economy, with many sources of strength, including manufacturing.
Now, that does mean that we need to work with companies. We've got to work with companies to ensure that there is investment here and there is a future here and that is what we've been doing.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) is that right?
PM: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: So at some point (inaudible) will cease, the taxpayer (inaudible)?
PM: As a Government, if you want to have jobs in your economy, then you've got to have the right policy settings every day. You never rule a line and say ‘it's done.' You've got to keep creating new jobs, keep working on your economy, keep building the economy of the future.
We are making the prudent decisions that we need to to keep Australian jobs here in car manufacturing. We are doing it within the New Car Plan, and the expenditure envelope for that New Car Plan.
The question here is whether or not that plan should be cut back - that's the difference - and as I have said and as Minister Carr has said and the local Member Maria Vamvakinou, there is a key issue here. I want to see these Australian workers keeping their jobs, I want to see jobs grow as a result of this investment.
Mr Abbott is saying no to these workers' jobs.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Yeah, sure.
MINISTER CARR: Perhaps I can help you with a few facts and figures on this matter.
PM: I suspect you could.
MINISTER CARR: The automotive industry around the world, we're one of 13 countries as the Prime Minister has indicated, that can make a motor car from the point of an idea through to the showroom floor. We're in very, very good company - very, very good company, - and it's a real measure of how a society has been able to evolve. Those countries that have lost their automotive industry, and there are many that have done that, deeply regret it because of how important the automotive industry is to the skills foundations of many, many other aspects of manufacturing, whether it be in aerospace, whether it be in instrument making, whether it be in aluminium, whether it be in plastics, whether it be in glass.
These are, of course, the foundation stones, as I say, these jobs you see here today are the things that we are able to develop which means that we can make jet fighters and we're in the process of that through the Joint Strike Fighter. The skills that are learnt here carry over to so many other places.
But nowhere in the world - nowhere - does the automotive industry survive without substantial co-investment by the governments. The governments of these countries around the world value the investment, value the jobs, value the huge benefits that come from research and development, from exports, value the services that are generated.
So in Australia though, our investment with the automotive industry is very small, very small by international standards, and the recent reports indicate that for Australia it's less than the price of a football ticket, $17.80 per taxpayer.
In Canada it's $96.39, in France it's $147.38, in Germany $90.37, in Sweden $334, in United Kingdom it is $27, but in the United States, the great home of free enterprise, is it $264 per taxpayer that goes towards support for the American automotive industry.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
I don't think you have heard those numbers before - $264 per taxpayer in the United States, and less than $18 in Australia.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) if it requires government subsidy (inaudible) around the world, how long will you keep it up?
PM: Well you've just heard Minister Carr explain, and what I said before is you've got to look at the benefits to the economy overall, and the spinoffs that come with having the kind of skills and capability and innovation and supply chains that manufacturing automobiles gives you, and what that means for manufacturing overall.
Now, we well understand that other people will make a different judgement call. There will be people who say that the jobs of these workers and having manufacturing is yesterday's economy. I don't agree with them. It seems that Tony Abbott does.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how concerned are you about Australian companies being forced to use Chinese supplies in the mining sector (inaudible)
PM: Look, thank you for the question and I am very concerned about the anecdotal reports today that there is a requirement that Australian firms are not used in mining. Any clear evidence of this will be taken by us to the World Trade Organisation, because it's in breach of the rules and it's not giving Aussie manufacturers a fair go.
So my message would be to people who have got this anecdotal evidence, that we need to take it to the next stage, get the clear evidence, and if clear evidence is available then we will certainly do everything we can to press the case internationally, because it's not fair to Aussie manufacturing.
JOURNALIST: Just on pokies, Prime Minister, Clubs ACT is working on a trial of mandatory pre-commitment (inaudible)?
PM: As I said yesterday, I've had some discussions with Andrew Wilkie, we will have some more discussions in the future and it's not my intention to engage in running commentary in any way while those discussions are happening.
JOURNALIST: But do you support a $1 betting limit?
PM: I'll just refer you to my last answer. I'm not going to add commentary in any way while those discussions are happening.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well, we are still in discussions with Holden and working hard on it. We obviously want to see auto jobs across the board here in Australia, and Minister Carr continues to work hard on it. So we will be working on that in the months to come.
JOURNALIST: Will that go to Cabinet?
PM: Oh, of course major decisions go to Cabinet, absolutely.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Minister won't be able to make the argument then?
PM: You misunderstand the Cabinet process and how it works.
JOURNALIST: Just on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in about five months, is the Australian Government buying her a present?
PM: As I announced at the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the Palace has let it be known that the Queen's preference is that there be resources made available for her Diamond Jubilee Trust, which will make investments across the Commonwealth, and so we are considering making a donation to her Trust.
JOURNALIST: Britons are talking about a (inaudible) or something, we wouldn't go that far (inaudible)?
PM: Well, I actually stood with Prime Minister Cameron when he indicated that the advice from the Palace was that the Queen's preference was for a Diamond Jubilee Trust. Beyond that, obviously, the UK Government will make its own decisions, but Prime Minister Cameron certainly indicated that the UK Government would be making a contribution to her Trust.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried that the nationalisation of OH&S laws (inaudible)?
PM: Look I've seen these reports today and we've just got to take a commonsense approach to all of this, and we most certainly are. We are continuing arrangements where there are safety expectations for the treatment of volunteers, and volunteer organisations know that and go out of their way to make sure that they keep their volunteers safe. If you look at organisations like the SES, they train and train and train and train for safety. Now our approach has been endorsed by the peak body for volunteers, Volunteering Australia.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Government's always got to do the appropriate things to make sure that your economy is growing and that you are developing the economy of the future. If you look right across the board, we invest in skills - that's about the capacities of individuals in our future economy. We invest in infrastructure, no bigger infrastructure than the National Broadband Network, because that's about the future of our economy. We put together our Clean Energy Future package because lowering our carbon pollution is about the future of our economy. We invest in road, in rail, in ports, because that's about the future of our economy. And of course we work through industry policy settings to make sure our economy has jobs today and is ready for the jobs of tomorrow.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's a (inaudible) that Ford has contributed to its own problems to some extent by focussing on big cars that run on petrol, which is not what the market wants and wasn't heading in that direction. So, are you propping up that (inaudible)?
PM: Well, I'd invite you to have a good hard look at the motor vehicles that are on display here and you will see through the Government's work and our change agenda, we have helped support the development of vehicles that are lower emissions, which is what the people want today. The vehicles that are on display here have world-breaking design features that have been developed here in Australia, and then of course you can take that in Australia all the way through to making the vehicle, having it come off the production line, going into the showroom and then ending up being the vehicle that proudly sits in your driveway.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: I'll get Minister Carr to clarify timing.
MINISTER CARR: Look, that's just not true. The fact remains that in Australia we've improved the consumption levels by about 20 per cent in the space of the last four years - that is, the consumption of petrol. So, we're improving the emissions in terms of both the, in terms of the power train and the tail pipe.
Last year, we sold over a million cars in Australia. We sold 49 fully electric vehicles. The future will go to other technologies, it's a question of when. It's a question of whether or not we have got the maximum benefits out of the combustion engine, and we are seeing dramatic improvement still to be made with the combustion engine.
At the end of the day, it's about the business case, and while over time we will see new forms of technology brought to bear - full electrification, hydrogen, a range of other options - but in the immediate term we are seeing that the petrol engine is the way in which people want to go and we are seeing they want to see cars that are more fuel efficient, but they want them to be powerful, they want to see cars that are big enough for people to be able to pick up the kids, do the shopping, put a passenger in, all at the same time.
And so there are, of course, changes in consumer sentiment, but overall the fact is that in Australia today the top five car range, Australia produces I think three of the top five cars.
The Commodore, which has been a top selling car now for the better part of 15 years, was pipped by 400 vehicles. That's more to do with the changes in the price of the dollar than it is necessarily much else. We're seeing the Cruze, 33,000 vehicles sold last year. We're seeing the Territory here today, it is now best in class, a 57 per cent increase in its sales - 57 per cent.
And that's because of the new technologies we brought in, diesel engines. So the combustion engine's got a long way to go, and I'd say over the next generation you will see very substantial changes and the development of new technologies, but we're in the business of co-investment, so the Government puts in some money, but the companies have to put in much, much, much more.
We're in the business of working with State Governments, to ensure that they meet their responsibilities as well and overall what we've seen is that the New Car Plan has been very, very successful.
This is an issue that could have been resolved in 2008. It could have been resolved, not in our interests, could have seen the collapse of the industry. The Government's action has shown that the industry is vibrant and is able to sustain the shocks of the global economic crisis.
We're now going through another period of difficulty as a result of the dollar. The dollar has increased by nearly two-thirds its value since we introduced the New Car Plan, so there has to be adjustments, and that's what the Governments doing. The New Car Plan is flexible, is adaptable and is able to see new technologies employed, like EcoBoost in Ford, which has seen substantial improvements and real value for money for consumers.
PM: We need to complete the rest of our tour, but can I say a very big thank you to everybody who's made us so welcome here at Ford, and we're looking forward to the rest of it.
Thank you, thanks very much.