THE minister for industry, science and technology Karen Andrews appears to have been sidelined from responsibility for the future relationship between car retailers and the OEM importers, with the role of developing some sort of protection for car dealers from the power imbalance that exists between dealers and their franchisors now going to Senator Michaela Cash, minister for employment, skills, small and family business.

In a meeting held in Canberra last week the government told the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) that Senator Cash was now responsible for the issue going forward.

The new role for Senator Cash was confirmed by department officials at a Senate Committee hearing in Canberra on Friday.

The move follows outrage from dealers when in the lead-up to Christmas, Minister Andrews released  an “Automotive Principles” policy for an industry code that was voluntary and was to be trialled for two years before the government revisited the issue.

The AADA issued a note saying that Minister Andrews’ actions were a “kick in the guts” for car dealers and their 60,000 employees and it was a major setback for dealers who were seeking to be protected from OEMs which abused their uneven power over dealers.

“Just when dealers thought this year could not possibly get worse, Minister Karen Andrews has sided with multinational car manufacturers, some of which have treated Australian dealers and their customers with absolute disdain in 2020,” AADA CEO James Voortman said in the note.

“It is clear that car dealers in Australia desperately need a strong set of mandatory protections which protect dealers against the abuses from car manufacturers. What we have today is a do-nothing policy cynically released on a Friday afternoon,” he said.

“The voluntary approach being announced by the government is doomed to fail and the potential damage that can be done before these principles are reviewed in two-years’ time is immense. One need only look at how GM reacted when asked by Minister Cash to engage in voluntary arbitration – they ignored and dismissed this request,” Mr Voortman said.

What the dealers found especially galling was that Minister Andrews did not even wait for the Senate Committee looking into the relationship between car dealers and OEMs to report in March.

GoAutoNews Premium has been told that Minister Andrews no longer has responsibility for the issue and this has been welcomed by dealers.

One dealer close to the issue said: “We had definitely hit a roadblock with Karen Andrews and her department. We see this as an opportunity to have a fresh set of eyes looking at this via Minister Cash.”

Dealers around Australia are continuing the process of documenting their experiences under their OEMs.

The dealers say they are hopeful of Senator Cash’s department looking at the “Automotive Principles” announced before Christmas with a critical set of eyes.

Dealers say that the issue is their number-one priority and they plan to “throw everything we have at it” in 2021.

Speaking at the Senate Committee hearing last Friday, Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill said that Minister Cash now has “the job to manage a sector that’s been alienated by one of her colleagues”.

“I don’t know why Minister Andrews thought this was going to ever meet the needs of the sector, what she’s proposed. They (the dealers) made it pretty clear to her that it wouldn’t, but she went ahead anyway.”

By John Mellor