Mr CHAMPION (Wakefield) (15:17): It is a sad duty to have to address the house on this MPI. I would rather not have done it. I would rather have not seen the closure of this great industry, the car industry. We remember the history that lies behind this industry. In November 1948, as the Leader of the Opposition says, Ben Chifley watched the first car line off the line at Fishermans Bend, the 48-215—or, as it's known, the FX Holden. Every Prime Minister, from Chifley to Rudd, respected that industry—knew it was important for our national identity, our research and development, our industrial capacity and Australian jobs. Even you, Mr Speaker, know how important Holden was to the psyche of communities and to the identity of our country, because we all had a Holden and we all had relatives who worked in Holden factories or in car component factories. This industry was in the fabric of our country. It was important to our postwar identity, as important as the Snowy scheme, as important as all of the things we have done—the science, the progress, the development, the industrial capacity. There were 50,000 direct jobs and 200,000 indirect jobs, not just in South Australia, not just in Elizabeth, but in the southern suburbs in Adelaide, in the western suburbs of Adelaide, in western Sydney, in Victoria—thousands and thousands of jobs in components, in research and development, blue collar and white collar, and the thousands of indirect jobs that hung off it. This was a critically important industry. What have we had post the Rudd government? I will tell you what we have had. We have had a government determined not just to be cavalier about this industry, not just to be indifferent about this industry. We have had a government that bragged about it amongst its cabinet ministers. The then Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, and the then Treasurer, Mr Hockey, bragged off the record about who put the torpedo in the water. I remember reading about that in a Phil Coorey article. We know when the day of judgement came that the car industry did not receive support; rather, they were dared to leave. Who can forget the front page of the Australian Financial Review: 'Hockey dares GM to leave'? The opening line of that article by Phil Coorey and Ben Potter stated: The federal government has accused General Motors Holden of ingratitude and effectively issued the company its marching orders, making it likely the auto maker’s departure is a formality. A formality—50,000 jobs wiped. Now we see the consequences of that. Time and time again, we have seen closure after closure, job after job gone, and the slow winding down of this industry. Tomorrow, in my electorate, the last car will come off the line, a VF Commodore—a red line. It is the best car that Holden has ever produced. It is a great car. With the dollar where it is now, it would have been exported to the United States. The Chevy SS would have been exported. The Caprice would have been exported to the US police car market. With the dollar where it is now, this industry, instead of closing down, would have been thriving—not just surviving but thriving—if they had had a government that backed them in, but they didn't have that. Abbott didn't back them in. Hockey didn't back them in. Turnbull didn't back them in. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Coulton ): Order! I remind the member for Wakefield to use correct titles for members. Mr CHAMPION: The Prime Minister, the member for Wentworth— Mr Bowen: The current Prime Minister. Mr CHAMPION: The current Prime Minister, as the Shadow Treasurer reminds me. We know when Mr Turnbull, the Prime Minister, was asked what he thought about this industry, he said, 'Oh well, they have to work on their productivity.' That is what he said to workers at the time. These are the workers who carved $20 million in costs out of enterprise bargaining agreements and other work practices. They were doing their bit to secure a billion dollars worth of assistance. They were doing their bit to keep these high-wage, high-skilled jobs in the country. What was the attitude of the Prime Minister to these workers? It was not only one of ignoring them—it's galling that this government wants to pretend that this industry is not closing, that it doesn't even exist—but that the Prime Minister went kayaking on Friday. He went kayaking in some social media stunt. He went down and took a tram somewhere. This is what is supposed to be industrial policy in this country? Rather than defending high-skill, high-wage jobs, the government—which is full of guilty people—have put this industry to the sword and have done so much damage, as they have done in so many other areas, with anaemic wage growth, entry level jobs basically being carved out of the system and attack after attack on the unemployed. What are they doing for jobs in this country? They are closing the one big industry in South Australia—50,000 jobs. This will reverberate across the country—make absolutely no mistake about it. What would a Prime Minister do if this happened on their watch? Normally, when there are tough conditions, when there are economic winds buffeting, a Prime Minister would show up. Prime Minister Rudd showed up. He showed up at Holden. Gillard—she showed up. But what has Turnbull done? What we just heard from the minister at the table and what we heard in question time was bragging about jobs growth. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Member for Wakefield. I have reminded you about using the correct title. Mr CHAMPION: I did. I called him the minister. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I called you to order 20 seconds ago; you didn't hear me. Mr CHAMPION: I should have called him the assistant minister at the table. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Wakefield, it wasn't that occasion, it was referring to the current Prime Minister 20 seconds ago but you didn't hear me. Mr CHAMPION: I appreciate your intervention, Deputy Speaker. But what do we have? We have the government bragging during question time about their performance, when they have anaemic wage growth and when they have got people under pressure. What will this closure do? What will this unnecessary, violent closure of an entire industry do? It's 13 per cent of our research and development spend alone, with thousands of jobs, but what will they do? They'll say, 'Oh well, things are good. Let's just ignore it.' Ms Rishworth: Military patrol boats, that's it! Mr CHAMPION: We know what is happening in shipbuilding. I hear my colleague, the member for Kingston, talking about shipbuilding. There are thousands of jobs going in ASC as well. Let's not pretend—as the government wants to do and will no doubt do in a second when they get up and brag about jobs growth—as if that's some sort of camouflage for their performance. There could be more jobs in the economy. Imagine if you didn't close the car industry, you could really get up and brag. We have a gutless Prime Minister. We have a Prime Minister who is guilty of the destruction of this industry and who won't go down to Holden Elizabeth as Chifley did. He won't go down there and make a comment about the last car coming off the line. He won't show up in SA and give us some idea about how our economy might transition. This is a violent act by this government. Make no mistake about it, it will do immense damage. Unemployment is the key indicator of poverty. I have already met workers, I already know workers, who, without Holden, are in desperate straits. They face losing their homes. What does this government say? They say, 'Go out there and get another job.' That's difficult to do if you're a mature-age worker, that's difficult to do if you have been on WorkCover and that's difficult to do if you don't have easily translatable skills. This government is terribly guilty, and that's why they won't say anything about the last car coming off the line. I have a little printout—a little picture—of that car. It's a beautiful car, but it doesn't have a Prime Minister next to it. It doesn't have a government minister taking responsibility for this. They just sit there, stone-facedly ignoring the problem, pretending it is not happening and pretending that this violent destruction of Australian jobs—of high-skill, high-wage, important jobs in an iconic industry—is not happening. They want to pretend that this is not happening.