Mr IAN MACFARLANE (Groom—Minister for Industry) (15:24): I sit here and listen in bewilderment and wonder. Here we have a party who pretend to be looking after the workers' interests, yet how could anyone who has the workers' interests at heart possibly be politicising this issue as much as they are now and striking so much fear into the hearts of auto industry workers when everyone knows what the process is. No-one is in any doubt about what the process is. The process is very straightforward. I announced it when I walked through the Holden plant, wearing Peter Brock's hat. He gave me that hat when I was minister for industry last time and opened a Holden dealership. I was proud to wear it, even though he knew that I was a Ford supporter and that I was pleased to see Ford win the Bathurst 1000. The reality is that we walked through the plant that day with members of the Labor Party, and they assured me that they would not be political about the process. Their interests and our interests were the same and they were about ensuring that we had a methodical process to look at how the car industry would best survive in Australia. What we have seen in the last two days is a complete dereliction of duty by members opposite as they embarked on a scare campaign and begun setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy. What these people on the other side do not understand is that, every time they suggest Holden will close, someone out there who is considering buying a Holden will have second thoughts. We know what those people opposite can do to motor sales. We saw it when they were last in government. We saw the $1.8 billion FBT hit that they laid on the industry. It was not, as they suggested, against doctors and lawyers and highly paid people who were going in to buy a Mercedes. If they had actually gone to a car dealership, like I did out at Ipswich, and talked to the dealer principals, they would have known that the people who were coming in and cancelling their order were the tradies, the government employees, the nurses, the ambos, the firies and the teachers—the people who rely on getting a car as part of their package, as a way of having a new car in their garage. Those people opposite did more damage to the car industry with that one move than anything I have seen in the history of the car industry. Mr Deputy Speaker, I say in all modesty that I have been the industry minister a damn sight longer than anyone over there. In fact, they rattled through a series of industry ministers but not as many as they did on small business, where they changed them almost every week. I would have to say that, in my time as industry minister, which is both now and previously, I have never seen one measure do more damage than the introduction of the FBT. The other measure that has damaged the confidence of those who manufacture here in Australia is of course the carbon tax. The carbon tax adds a cost of up to $400 per vehicle manufactured in Australia, but there is not a cent of carbon tax put against a vehicle coming into Australia. It is a reverse tariff . It has made it more difficult for our industry to compete against imports. Mr Deputy Speaker, you would think at a time when the car industry is expressing its concern about its future that the Labor Party would think about the car industry's future and stop playing politics—but no. They cannot resist it. They cannot allow themselves to get behind the process, which the member for Wakefield agreed to. He walked through the Holden plant with me—and I was pleased to have him there. But, given the opportunity to play politics, they are never going to pass it up, are they? I would have thought that, now he has an insight into the difficulties that the car industry faces, he would walk across and say to his mates in the Senate: 'Listen, we've got to do everything we can to get these guys going. We need every opportunity.' Why don't you go over and ask them, Member for Wakefield, to pass the revocation of the carbon tax? Mr Champion: I was backing you in against your own government. I'm on your side. Mr IAN MACFARLANE: You're not on my side if you're not revoking the carbon tax, mate, I can tell you now. What we need here is a methodical, measured process, not the process that the Labor Party have embarked on, not the self-fulfilling prophecy that they have rolled out the door this week. We want people who want to get behind this industry. Frightening car workers in the lead-up to Christmas is doing nothing to enhance confidence in the industry. Of course, the accusations are flying thick and fast that we are not prepared to put any money into the car industry. That is nonsense. It is complete nonsense. Looking at the forward estimates, anyone who can read a budget paper will know that there is over a billion dollars committed to that industry. And I stand here as the minister who committed $4.3 billion to this industry, which it is still spending. So, in addressing this MPI, I am not for a moment going to take any criticism from those opposite that the coalition is anything but totally committed to the car industry and its future in Australia. But I am not going to embark on a process where we simply say, 'Here's a problem; let's hurl some money at it.' I am still dealing with the residues of that—and will be for some time—which the Labor Party thought was a quick way to fix this, a bandaid fix. The Labor Party just threw a money bandaid at it. 'Throw a money bandaid at it and it'll be someone else's problem after the next election.' Damn right it is. Seeing as the Labor Party want to talk about their record in government on the car industry, let us have a look at it. Two car manufacturers gone. A government member: Two out of four. Mr IAN MACFARLANE: Two out of four, yes. And did we on this side stand up and politicise the issue? Of course not. We felt empathy for the workers. When we were on the opposition benches, did we try, question time after question time, to make an issue of the government's mismanagement of the car industry? No. We were happy to work with them. Let us look at the numbers. When I left as industry minister, there were 335,000 cars being made in Australia every year; when I came back, what did I find? A third of them were no longer there. It was down to 221,000 units. When I was industry minister, there were 200 businesses in the supply chain. I come back and do an audit, and there are 150 left. Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, anywhere you look, the Labor Party stand damned for the state of the car industry at the moment. Now, that is the result of constant mismanagement, constant change. We heard during question time a question from the opposition—which, again, is of no assistance to the industry at all—about whether or not a reduction in the funding going forwards would be a devastating blow to the car industry. I think they even suggested it would shut the industry down. Let us reflect again on the Labor Party in government. Let us see what they did when they had the treasury bench. Let us see what they took out of car industry plans. They took out no less than $1.23 billion. They took $429.7 million, let us say $430 million, out of the Cleaner Car Rebate Scheme—I will have to check which minister it was at the time, but I think it was Senator Carr, who announced that it was no longer required; and, prior to that, they had taken $801 million in savings out of the Green Car Innovation Fund. That is $1.23 billion. Mr Perrett interjecting— Mr IAN MACFARLANE: Did we as an opposition stand up and say, 'The industry is doomed'? Of course not. Did we stand up and say— Mr Perrett: So we're simultaneously throwing money and taking it away! The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ): Order! The member for Moreton will desist or he will find himself out of the chamber. Mr IAN MACFARLANE: I'd go for the second option, Mr Deputy Speaker! The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will not take advice from the minister either! Mr IAN MACFARLANE: Did we as an opposition do anything but show our support for the car industry? Of course not. We supported the car industry every inch of the way and we will continue to do so.