Senator McEWEN (South Australia—Opposition Whip in the Senate) (15:28): I too would like to take note of answers given by government senators to questions asked by Senator Wong and Senator Carr about the future of Australia's automotive industry. We keep asking questions of the government about the future of the automotive industry because the answers we get are totally unsatisfactory. They are not answers, in fact; they are just responses. They do not answer the question of whether or not this government will act to save the 200,000 jobs supported by the automotive industry. The responses we get offer no solace to Holden workers in my state who want to know how much longer they will have a job for. The responses we get only reveal that there are deep divisions in this federal government about whether or not Australia's auto industry and all those who work in it and rely on it should continue to be supported as they were under the former Labor government. I know the Premier of South Australia is coming to Canberra this week to speak to the Prime Minister about the future of the car industry. I know he is passionate about saving the South Australian jobs in the car industry and doing what he can to secure a future for Holden and the 1,700 workers in South Australia that it employs. I know that all South Australian Labor senators in this place and Labor members in the other place have spoken out in support of the auto industry and called on the federal government to step up to the mark and declare exactly what it plans to do. However, I do not know what South Australian Liberal senators are doing because they do not tell us. It is extraordinary. Over the last two days, in taking note on this important matter of the auto industry, we have not had one South Australian Liberal senator stand up and put their point of view. Not one! Senator Kroger: Rubbish! Senator Fifield: That's just not true! Senator McEWEN: In taking note, we have had, as we just heard, a Tasmanian senator, Senator Colbeck, and another Tasmanian senator, Senator Bushby— Senator Fifield: Tasmanians are people too! Senator McEWEN: I have not seen too many cars made in Tasmania, Senator Fifield! Senator Fifield: They use them! Senator McEWEN: I have not seen too many cars made there! Senator Fifield: They drive them! Senator McEWEN: And we have had a senator from Western Australia and now a senator from Queensland—and I fail to find any auto industry in Queensland. So we do not know what Liberal senators are doing. Senator Kroger: They don't use the horse and buggy! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! On my right! Senator McEWEN: We do know what some unnamed Liberal senators are doing, though. They are backgrounding journalists and saying that Holden is going to pull out of Australia. But today we heard from the CEO of Holden himself at the Productivity Commission that no decision had been made. No decision has been made by Holden, so why are coalition ministers, unnamed, going around and saying that Holden is going to pull out of Australia? Why are they forcing their own minister—Minister Macfarlane—to try to defend and reclaim his portfolio space? What is this all about? What is the hidden agenda of those coalition ministers who are backgrounding journalists? Is it because the economic dries have taken over the Liberal Party completely? You would have to think so, wouldn't you? Because they are the people who believe in a no-holds-barred, no-strings-attached complete economic freefall for all, and whose ideological obsessions blind them to the fact that governments do sometimes need to support industries. But there is more to supporting an industry than letting go of the levers and watching the freefall that happens, and hoping that some people and some organisations survive out of that. We know that the member for Mayo, the member for Sturt and the member for Higgins all have that ideological obsession. They want to let the automotive industry fall, basically. I would like to conclude, however, by noting that one South Australian senator has made some comments about this; one South Australian senator, and that is Senator Bernardi. I do not know who saw Senator Bernardi interviewed last night, but it sent shivers down my spine when he was asked about the automotive industry. What did he do? He reverted to type, and he said that what they should do in the auto industry is to look at those union agreements that they have negotiated at Holden. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Is this what it is all about, really? Is it about attacking ordinary working people and their unions, who have negotiated decent enterprise agreements for the automotive industry? That is probably what it is all about. I can tell you, Mr Deputy President, that the unions will stand behind automotive workers in South Australia and Victoria and in the other industries that are dependent on the automotive industry. South Australian Labor senators will stand behind automotive workers. The people who will not stand behind them are Liberal South Australian senators, who have refused to participate in this debate and who are standing by watching the auto industry come to its knees. (Time expired) Question agreed to.