Free Access Articles, News, Regulations , ,

bill_Shorten_portrait

Big changes: Labor leader Bill Shorten has announced a new plan to help automotive parts-makers diversify their businesses.

LABOR leader Bill Shorten has unveiled a $58.6 million plan to help automotive suppliers develop new products and markets in a bid to encourage investment and job creation as the car industry winds down over the next 18 months.

The assistance will be targeted at regions hardest hit by the withdrawal of the three car manufacturers and includes several areas around Melbourne and the region north of Adelaide. Areas of New South Wales and Queensland will also be addressed.

The Manufacturing Transition Boost has been developed in conjunction with the Labor governments in Victoria and South Australia to avoid duplication of programs already in existence. This includes training and other assistance for displaced workers.

“This package is critical not just for the automotive industry and jobs – it’s critical for Australia’s economy,” Labor leader Bill Shorten said at a press conference at Backwell IXL in Geelong on Monday.

Backwell IXL makes forged parts for the Falcon front end, stampings for Toyota and, outside the car industry, the IXL Tastic bathroom lighting/heating ceiling units.

Mr Shorten said the closure of the car industry was going to cost Australia about 200,000 jobs, with most of those in the parts industry.

“Automotive vehicle production is supported by a supply chain of around 160 businesses involved in component manufacturing, engineering, design and tooling,” he said.

“It’s estimated that for every one automotive job, 6.5 jobs are generated in associated supply. Modelling suggests that 200,000 people will lose their jobs as a result of closures in motor vehicle production between now and 2017.

“The shutdowns will rip $29 billion from the economy – about two per cent of GDP (gross domestic product).”

Asked by GoAuto whether parts-makers would be given access to the Automotive Transformation Scheme, which is set to wind up in 2017, Mr Shorten said: “Yes, we want to see companies who are bidding for work that are able to get that support.”

He dodged the question about whether he would like to re-establish the local car industry, saying he was not in the business of making promises he cannot keep.

Instead, he emphasised that Labor wanted to ensure Australia “still makes things” whereas the Liberal-led coalition would just “leave it to the market”.

“I never thought I would see the day when a government of Australia would abandon tens of thousands of Australian workers,” Mr Shorten said, adding that Labor was committed to keeping the country as a “manufacturing powerhouse”.

“For the last three years, Australians have watched in stunned disbelief as the current Liberal government goaded the car manufacturers to leave. They have no plans for advanced manufacturing. Instead they just say, ‘Leave it to the market and leave the blue collar workers on the scrapheap’.

“Labor is driven by a desire to ensure that we are a country that still makes things here. I think too many Australians think perhaps we don’t make anything here, and the truth could not be further from that myth.”

Mr Shorten also said that Australia was now a laughing stock among the 19 other countries that can produce a car from the ground up, following the decision of Ford, Holden and Toyota to quit manufacturing here by the end of 2017.

“Do you think those other 19 countries think we were smart to get out of the business? Or do you think they are just laughing at us?” he said.

“The truth of the matter is, one of the most galling things I have found in opposition is when big manufacturing and little manufacturing facilities close without so much as a crocodile tear from this (current) government.

“We will fight for every manufacturing job. I can’t promise every manufacturing worker will always win every fight, but I can promise them this: if we are your government, you’ve got someone on your side, not someone who has given up and doesn’t care about you, your family and your small business.”

The Manufacturing Transition Boost will provide $10.5 million to automotive businesses to help them enter new supply chains, develop new products and improve productivity.

A further $48.1 million will be used to stimulate investment in advanced manufacturing.

Of that total, $15 million will be directed into the South Australia government’s Automotive Supplier Diversification Program to broaden the scope of the program to include non-automotive manufacturers as well.

Victoria will receive $33.1 million to support manufacturing and other businesses in the affected areas, including Melbourne’s north, west and south-east, and Geelong.

Up to $2 million will be available to businesses that have planned investment projects but are having difficulty accessing finance.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, who was in Geelong for the announcement, said the state government was currently working with 135 automotive parts companies, 70 of which have already diversified into new markets or new products.

Mr Shorten said that Labor will work with “progressive governments such as those of Jay Wetherill in South Australia and Dan Andrews in Victoria to make sure that not only does Australia catch the wave of investment in renewable energy in the future, not only that we have advanced manufacturing in Australia, but that we provide good quality blue-collar jobs for the people of the regions of Australia”.

“We think this is a very practical difference we can make to manufacturing in Geelong and in the region. There are 5000 jobs here that are at risk,” he said.
“My Labor team is committed to keeping Australia as a manufacturing powerhouse, to grab the opportunities of advanced manufacturing in the future, to make sure we get our fair share of the renewable energies investment boom, and it all starts at great companies like this (Backwell IXL).”

By Ian Porter

Bill Shorten

Bill Shorten

Manheim
Gumtree
Manheim
Manheim
Gumtree
AdTorque Edge
DealerCell
PitcherPartners
MotorOne
Schmick