Carr's Car Industry and the Liberal Party.

14 Jan 12

The following is a press release from the Liberal Party about Kim Carr's recent trip to Detroit to secure the future of Australia's automotive manufacturing industry.

ManufactureLink does not, as a general rule get involved in policital debates, however the Liberal Party makes a few valid points about the Gillard Government's actions and inconsistencies, in particular the unpopular scrapping of the The Green Car Innvoation Fund and the toxic tax on carbon that will add to manufacturing costs.

The press release also highlights the fact that the Gillard Government seems indifferent to the plight of the manufacturing sector and the fact that 130,000 jobs have been lost from the Manufacturing sector in recent times. It begs the question, is Australia under the Gillard Government heading in the same direction as England under the Thatcher regime, that saw England's manufacturing sector nearly disappear.

The Liberal Party of course have come up with no alternatives other than to say their policies will be released prior to the next election.

The Liberal Party's Press Follows:

Cabinet discard Kim Carr’s latest outburst in the media today, calling on the Coalition to save blue collar jobs in the motor vehicle industry, is the height of hypocrisy given Labor’s nearly $2 billion in broken promises to that industry.

It was only a year ago that Labor made savage cuts to car industry funding by shredding:

· The Green Car Innovation Fund;

· Cash for Clunkers; and the

· LPG Vehicle Scheme.

To make matters worse, the decision to decimate these programs was a unilateral made in the dark of night by the Prime Minister without any warning to the car industry.

And now the sector is also going to be slugged by up to $46 million annually in additional costs due to the carbon tax.

Labor’s litany of car industry policy failures and unaccountable and unsustainable spending provides no certainty or long term outcomes for the car industry or the Australian public. Its failed approach cannot be continued.

Car manufacturers now talk about sovereign risk in Australia when considering local investment decisions.

In the past three-and-a-half years, just under 130,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost and manufacturing activity is contracting almost every month under Labor.

Labor thinks so little of manufacturing that they have relegated the portfolio to the outer ministry and out of Cabinet for the first time in living memory.

The Coalition’s industry policy will be released in good time before the next election and, as has been the case in the past, will provide certainty and value to the Australian public.