Senator RONALDSON (Victoria—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC and Special Minister of State) (16:16): History will show that Senator Carr was not prepared to put any of these matters to me, as the Minister representing the Minister for Industry, over the last three days. He scurried in here to make a speech. He has scurried out again. He had three days of opportunities to put these matters to me, and he squibbed it. He squibbed the opportunity to put the matters that he is talking about today to me as the Minister representing the Minister for Industry. I am going to talk about what this government intends to do. Probably the most sensible contribution Senator Carr made was when he talked about how he is looking for stable policy settings. That is exactly what he is going to get. But from 2007 until the removal of the opposition from government that is exactly what manufacturing did not get. There were no stable policy settings. I have had my staff trawl through Senator Carr's speeches from when he was the industry minister. The only sensible contribution that I agreed with was a ministerial statement on 24 August 2011. Senator Carr said: Our nation is facing a historic shift, the like of which we have not seen in two generations. That does not mean the change will be easy or swift. These are incredibly challenging times.' In 2011 he said, 'These are incredibly challenging times. What was Senator Carr's response as minister to this historic shift, the like of which we had not seen in two generations? I will tell you what it was. He was part of a Labor government where, under his watch, one manufacturing job was lost every 19 minutes during their term—200,000 extra jobs were lost over that period. In relation to the motor vehicle industry, honourable senators will be horrified to note that, from 2007 until the removal of the previous government, the number of locally made cars dropped by one-third. One in every four jobs in the industry disappeared. The locally made share of the domestic market dropped by 32 per cent. There were significant falls in R&D, productivity was down, turnover was down, vehicle production was down and exports were down. It is a bit hard to tell when Senator Carr was or was not industry minister, I have to say. He was in and then he was out, and then he was in and then he was out. But where was Senator Carr when two or three key decisions were made? Where was Senator Carr when the Australian Labor Party in government broke a promise of $1.4 billion in funding commitments as they chopped and changed their car industry policy? That was under the watch of this inapt minister. The former minister never delivered on his watch the stable policy settings that he was bleating about. Is a stable policy setting changing the rules in relation to FBT? Is that a stable policy decision? Was there any consultation with industry in relation to the change to these pre-existing FBT rules? What about this minister, this inapt, in-out minister who has the gall to talk about what may or may not have happened in relation to these issues in this government's cabinet? Where was the industry minister when these FBT changes were made? Where was this former minister when a stable policy setting was required? He went missing. All those opposite know what a dramatic impact this proposal had. I will go through some of the commentary. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the FCAI, undertook an analysis of the likely impact of the former government's decision, describing it as terrible news for the industry and concluding that it could have a dire effect on Australian car production, including on the manufacturing supply chain—that is the component manufacturers. The very person we have heard bleating and seen crocodile tears from over the last week, the former minister, did not have the intestinal fortitude to ask the Minister representing the Minister for Industry a question over three days. He is lacking intestinal fortitude, and he lacked the ability as a minister to provide the stable policy settings that might just have saved car manufacturing in this country. But it gets worse. This minister was either rolled in cabinet or supported the decision. We think we know which it was. We think he supported the decision, because he was very quick to come out between his industry minister gigs and attack the former Labor government when he was not sitting on the front bench. When he had been cast to the back bench, where he should have been for the last six years, he got stuck into the Green Car Innovation Fund. He wrote a book on it. He was prepared to bell the cat on that, so presumably if he was not part of the cabinet decision that introduced these FBT changes or we would have heard from him. We didn't. Therefore we quite rightly assumed that he was part of a policy that was predicted to reduce the number of units manufactured in this country by 100,000. What did this in and out minister, this failed industry minister, go on to do? He tried to mislead the Australian public in his defence of this indefensible policy. On Channel 10's Meet the Press program, the failed minister sought to deflect attention away from this disastrous policy by saying that only a minimum of vehicles being purchased on such grounds are Australian made. He was part of the decision and then went on Meet the Press. He tried deliberately to mislead the Australian community to cover his backside on the back of this outrageous decision about which there was no consultation. Guess what the Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association said about his comments that only a minimum of vehicles purchased on such grounds are Australian made? The leasing and salary packaging industry stated that around 40 per cent of vehicles made locally by Toyota, Holden and Ford during 2012 were in fact employee benefit vehicles. Not a minimum; 40 per cent—100,000 units in a declining domestic market. It is no wonder that it was described as terrible news. It is no wonder that it was described by the FCAI as potentially having a dire effect on Australian car protection, including the manufacturing supply chain. Stable policy settings: does the introduction and maintenance of a carbon tax sound to you like a stable policy setting? Senator Birmingham: Especially if you promised not to do it! Senator RONALDSON: Especially, as Senator Birmingham said, if you promised not to do it. What we saw with the carbon tax was a minimum of $400 added to the cost of every vehicle manufactured in Australia. Locally produced cars have been struggling to compete against imported cars. What did this former, failed, in and out minister do? He stuck by a policy that added $400 to the cost of a car made in this country—another $400 disincentive for people to buy locally. Even now, this failed minister refuses to acknowledge that the carbon tax must go, because his view is not about jobs. His view is a warped philosophical view of the carbon tax. When Minister Macfarlane is out there fighting for Australian jobs, he is not doing it on the back of some philosophical obsession. He is not doing it on the back of a relationship with the AMWU which prompted former Labor leader Mark Latham to say the following: Carr relies heavily on the support of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union … Carr’s strategy was to pay huge amounts of public money ... To prop up the union’s membership coverage and consequently, its influence inside the ALP. This is not a former minister who is remotely interested in Australian jobs. This is not a former minister who was prepared to put in place the stable policy settings which, as I have said, just might have saved the Australian car industry. This is a minister who oversaw the expenditure by former Prime Minister Gillard that slugged the sector with a $460 million bill. That was the cost to the Australian car industry. That was the cost impost on Australian produced cars. Guess who was not subjected to that tax, though? Guess who did not have $400 added to the cost of their car? Yes, you are quite right if you are thinking that it was the very people that these local manufacturers were competing against. Imported motor vehicles did not have a $400 cost on them. The industry as a whole did not have a $460 million carbon tax slug put on it. So how dare former Minister Carr and others in the Australian Labor Party come in here and run the lines that they have. I think Mark Latham has best summed up Senator Carr. I think Mark Latham has best summed up where this former minister is and was coming from, because how could anyone who was remotely interested in the men and women he was ostensibly there to defend, or how could anyone in his position, do what he did? When I said during question time that this former minister has got to accept an enormous amount of responsibility for the demise of the automotive industry of this country, I was absolutely serious about it. You, on the other side, have got a few options. You have got the option to get rid of a carbon tax that does not and will not work, and it still continues to put Australian manufacturers behind the eight ball compared to their competitors overseas. So if you are serious about supporting Australian manufacturers, if you are serious about their jobs and if this is not just about supporting your union mates, then why do you not let the legislation go through to abolish the carbon tax? Why do you not let the legislation go through to abolish the mining tax? Why do you not let through the $20 billion—that is, $20,000 million—of savings that we want to make? Why will you not let it go through? In relation to those savings, the Australian community needs to know that $5 billion of those $15 billion were savings that you were going to put in place in government. Now that you are in opposition, for cheap political purposes you are not prepared to let them go through. You stand utterly condemned. I look back at former Prime Minister Gillard, who announced $34 million for Ford, saying that it would create 300 new jobs—only for 330 employees to lose their jobs inside eight months. Former Prime Minister Gillard and Senator Carr were responsible for the announcement of $215 million for Holden, saying that it would secure its future in Australia until 2022. Within months, 670 jobs were lost. The attempt by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Shorten, and former Minister Carr to frame this debate around whether we care for Australian workers is a disgrace. We care for Australian workers. We do not care for selfish trade union leaders—trade union leaders who, in my view, had the opportunity to go back to the Toyota workforce in relation to the company's desire to renegotiate the EBA. Were they prepared to do that? No, they were not. How committed were they to not changing an EBA that might, just might, have kept Toyota in this country? They were so vehemently opposed to it that they took the matter to court to ensure that they kept that EBA in place. Surely the workers at Toyota were entitled to have a say in relation to that EBA. Surely they were entitled to be part of the decision-making process as to whether they were prepared to give a bit away to help save this company. It was not giving salary away; it was actually some sensible decisions in relation to things like Christmas leave. Sure, everyone wants time off over Christmas. Surely, though, these workers were entitled to be given the opportunity to decide whether they were prepared to renegotiate some of these conditions and possibly save the company.