Holden stays on hold
Holden boss Mike Devereux says the car maker will wait until after the federal election to make a final decision on the future of its Australian operations.
Devereux was in Adelaide on Monday for talks with assembly plant staff who are soon to vote on a new enterprise agreement that will cut $15 million a year from Holden’s costs.
He said a decision on Holden investing $1 billion in Australia to develop two new cars will be finalised after talks with whichever party wins the September 7 election.
“We would need to wait until, frankly, the outcome of the election to be able to commit that $1 billion investment,” Mr Devereux told reporters.
“Because it’s such a long time period. We’re talking about investments that will take us out beyond 2022 now to 2023.”
Last week Holden and the car industry union put the new enterprise agreement to Holden’s 1700 staff in Adelaide.
A vote was scheduled for August 9 but has been delayed to August 13 to give the workforce more time to absorb and understand the changes.
“It is crucial our people are able to make a fully informed decision and we want to give them every opportunity to do so,” a company spokesman said.
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Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary John Camillo said if the workers rejected the plan, Holden had made it clear the assembly operations in Australia would close from 2016.
He said the company required both the new enterprise agreement and the federal government’s financial support, thought now to be close to $500 million, to continue as a local car producer.
“There’s no plan B in this one. The workers will make a decision and if it’s a no, the company will close,” Camillo said last week.
The new labour agreement does not include the 10 per cent pay cut the company initially called for but does allow Holden more flexibility on a range of measures including new shift arrangements.
The ALP, meanwhile, has announced a “buy Australian” policy for governments as part of any support package for local car makers.
The policy is separate to any further funding options directed specifically at Holden.
Discussions with Holden are on hold until the outcome of next week’s vote by Elizabeth plant workers on a new wage and conditions package.
“We’ll discuss with the company what measures we’ll take to make sure the automotive industry is competitive,” Industry Minister Kim Carr said today on ABC Radio.
“The unions the workers and the company have shown they can work through that.
“(When that’s resolved) then, we’ll start working with them.”
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Today’s announcement was focused on sales of locally made cars.
“It’s a series of measures to buy Australian,” Carr said on local radio station FIVEaa.
“It will be to encourage governments to buy Australian.”
When asked if such measures were consistent with international trade agreements, Carr said the policy fitted into the category of “temporary stimulus measures”.
The package of measures is expected to be worth $200 million over the next two years.
The plan is expected to include making the commonwealth car fleet be 100 per cent Australian, and forcing government agencies to buy Australian cars – resulting in an extra 18,000 Australian cars sold a year.
Carr said supporting the car industry was important for the economy, as it provided an estimated 250,000 jobs either directly or indirectly.
Earlier today Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the industry had a future.
“I have said before that I do not believe manufacturing is an industry just for the past; it’s an industry for the future,” he told ABC Radio.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the best thing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd could do for the industry is to scrap its fringe benefits tax changes on employer-provided cars.
Jobs and the economy are top of the agenda as Mr Abbott and Mr Rudd begin criss-crossing the country on the first full day of campaigning ahead of the September 7 election.
Carr said today’s announcement was separate from any discussions with Holden, which remained confidential between the company and the government.
“We’ve discussed with Holden a number of matters, but that remains confidential.”
– with AAP
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