Senator McEWEN (South Australia—Opposition Whip in the Senate) (17:56): In the few minutes available to me, I would like to say that I support this motion that is being put forward today. I am a big supporter of the Automotive Transformation Scheme that was introduced by the Labor government in 2009 and has been eviscerated by the coalition government. I note that Senator Reynolds gave us a lengthy speech on the history of the manufacturing in Western Australia but made very little mention of the subject of this motion, which is the automotive industry. I also take issue with the fact that she failed to acknowledge that the Western Australian situation is completely different to that of South Australia and Victoria, who are not as geographically blessed as Western Australia. They have not had a massive resources boom which has enabled the huge investment in manufacturing and resources in her state. I also take issue with her assertion that somehow the workers in the automotive industry in Australia are the architects of their own industry's demise. Nothing could be further from the truth. The workers in the automotive industry deserve the support and not denigration by the coalition in this place. Those workers are highly skilled and highly effective. It is not their fault that competition has been introduced into the automotive sector around the world and is going through a significant restructure at the moment. We should all be here supporting the transformation scheme introduced by the Labor government. We should be moving to amend the scheme so that the money left in there—cynically left in there—by the coalition government, and virtually inaccessible to the automotive industry and ancillary industries, is freed up. Workers in the automotive industry in my home state of South Australia and in the state of Victoria should be able to access that money to transform the industry, continue provide good jobs for working Australians and provide skilled industries for Australians. We accept that the car industry now, unfortunately, because of the action of the coalition government to force Holden out of this country— Senator BACK: What about Mitsubishi? Senator McEWEN: That situation has left hundreds of thousands of workers around Australia desperate to find out where they are going to have a job in the future. What have you ever done about it, Senator Back? What have you done except sit there and pontificate. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Through the chair. On my left! Order! Senator McEwen, you have 15 seconds—very passionate it was too. Senator McEWEN: I am passionate about this industry, because in my home state of South Australia it is the workers in the northern suburbs of Adelaide who are directly affected by the inaction of those opposite, and they will remember it come the next election. The PRESIDENT: Order! The time for the debate has expired.