Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (19:40): Madam Speaker, on indulgence: I do not want to mince my words and I do not want to pretend to the parliament that this is anything other than a dark day for manufacturing in this country. We have today received the very bad news—not entirely unexpected news—that Holden is to cease manufacturing in this country in 2017. Twenty-nine hundred jobs will be gone by 2017 and thousands of jobs are at risk in up to 150 suppliers. This follows the withdrawal from motor manufacturing in our country of Mitsubishi some years ago and Ford's announced 2016 close-down. This was part of a world-wide restructure that, amongst other things, involved the closure of General Motors' plants in Korea and the withdrawal of Chevrolet from Europe. So we should not think that motor manufacturing in this country has alone suffered bad news this day. But as the managing director of Holden has said, and I thank him for his sober statement today on what must have been a sad and bitter day for him, Holden has been hit by a perfect storm: high costs, the high dollar and low volumes, and that explains the decision that they have made. Now is the time for a strategic response to the difficulties in manufacturing and particularly to the difficulties in our motor industry. It is not the time to play politics. It is not the time to indulge in the blame game. It is not the time to peddle false hope. It is time for a candid and constructive conversation with the Australian people and it is time for a considered and constructive response from government. That is exactly what this government will be providing in coming days. That strategic response starts with a review of the fundamental strengths of our country. It starts with a review of the fundamental strengths of the areas which will be most impacted by the Holden close-down in three years time. We do have strengths in component manufacturing. We do have strengths in manufacturing, particularly for the mining sector. We have enormous strengths in research and development, in higher education and in biomedical science. The government will be announcing measures in coming days that will build on the strengths that we have and which will offer hope for the people of the regions impacted. It will be a considered package of measures, designed to rebuild confidence in the long-term economic future of those regions, in the long-term future of manufacturing of this country. Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Those on my left will desist. Mr ABBOTT: As part of that, we will be talking to Toyota. They have long been the strongest motoring manufacturer in this country and I want to say that it is the government's strong wish that Toyota continue to manufacture in this country. It is the government's strong wish that Toyota continue to export from this country and we will be talking to them about the best ways of ensuring that that happens. I accept that this is a sad, bad day for everyone involved in the motor industry. It is a particularly sad, bad day for the workers of Holden, for the families of the workers of Holden and for the communities which are home to Holden's major facilities in this country. There is no way that I can gloss over that, and there is no way that I should gloss over that. But the people of this country—the people of our industrial centres—have been through hard times before, and they have come through hard times. They have flourished through hard times. When BHP withdrew from steel-making in Newcastle, many people thought that it was the end of an era—and, yes, it was the end of one era. It was the end of a grimy, industrial era for Newcastle. But it certainly was not the end of economic dynamism for Newcastle, which has gone from strength to strength in the decade or so since the announcement. I accept that the economy of South Australia is fragile, and I accept that Adelaide in particular has suffered a series of knocks. It lost Mitsubishi just a few years ago, but it did come through. There is much that we can be hopeful and optimistic about in the resistance of the South Australian economy, particularly if government can do all that is necessary to see that the Olympic Dam mine expansion goes ahead. So this is a dark day. But there will be better days ahead, and it is my determination and the determination of everyone in the government to work with the people of Australia—to work with the creative people of this country—to ensure that the great strengths of our society and the great strengths of our economy continue to be built on in the days and weeks and months ahead.